We finally managed to sleep in a little, likely due to the dreary weather … unfortunately it was on the one day when we were hoping to get an early start. We planned to visit Tsujiki, the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, located on Tokyo’s east side. While we did miss the 5:20 a.m. auction, we ended up avoiding a lot of the tourist rush and were still able to get to the market early enough to check out the stalls, and get a feel for the organized chaos. Here are some photos from our morning:

Tokyo was blanketed in umbrellas

Stalls in the outskirts of Tsujiki market

The scene at the market

Relaxing after a long morning

Octopus

Delicious!

Pufferfish

Following our visit to the fish market, we made our way down to a local park, Haramarikju-Teien, where we visited a teahouse at the centre of the property and enjoyed some green tea and a ‘confection’. It was a nice way to escape the rain.

The park juxtaposed against the Tokyo skyline

The teahouse

The teahouse and our mid-morning snack

We made our way to the island district of Tsukada, also on Tokyo’s east side. This laid back neighbourhood is known for it’s classic wooden structures and unique cuisine. Here are a few of the buildings, including the Sumiyoshi Shrine pictured directly below.

We enjoyed a dish called monjayaki for lunch. We were seated at a table with a grill between us, and awaited our order.

First, the server brought us a bowl of ingredients, including beef, ginger and cabbage and a savoury broth.

Then, she poured the beef, cabbage and ginger on the grill, carved out a circle in the centre of the ingredients, and poured in the broth. She mixed and chopped the ingredients and let it cook on the grill for a few minutes. We dug in (literally, using small trowel-like instruments) – it was a really tasty light lunch!

After another excellent food adventure, we headed back to Shinjuku. We visited the 51st floor of the Sumitomo Building at sunset to enjoy the view … and obviously take some awesome glamour shots!

Then, after yesterday’s quest, we ended up finding Nami, the ramen bar, for dinner. It was on the second floor of a building down a dark alley – very stealth. There was a noodle bar that seated 8 people (barely) and one chef who served everyone. The ramen was delectable, well worth the hunt.

Here are some other miscellaneous shots from the day:

After enjoying what has become our signature breakfast here, the chocolate croissant (naturally), we headed down to Shinjuku station to take the train to Yasakuni Ginga, Kitonomaru-Koen and Kokyo HIgashi Gyoen Park. Apparently, living in New York did not adequately prepare either of us for the complexity of the Toyko subway system, but luckily as we stood gawking at the subway map, we were again saved by a nice lady who helped us purchase our fare for the day.

They make it look so easy!

Our first stop of the day was Yasakuni Jinja, a shrine dedicated to the ward dead who served the Emperor of Japan from 1867-1951. It is believed that all evil acts are forgiven once enshrinement occurs, and that once one is enshrined, it is irreversible by the current clergy (it is purportedly the priesthood at the shrine who determine who is enshrined, not the government) As such, there are a number of war criminals (as determined by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East) buried at the shrine. This may sound familiar – each year it becomes the centre of mild controversy when the Prime Minister makes a state visit. Controversy aside, the shrine was impressive – though unfortunately it appeared that we had just missed some sort of festival, as when we arrived, there were crews of men taking down stalls and deflating rows and rows of yellow lanterns (pictured below).

We headed over to Kitonomaru-Koen and Kokyo HIgashi Gyoen Parks, on the grounds of the Imperial palace. A huge moat surrounds the palace grounds, and recently, painstaking efforts were taken to restore many of the fortress walls, which were formidable. There was also a park that housed 7 different types of bamboo, thereby solidifying our dream of one day growing a bamboo garden ourselves.

One of the varieties: Phyllostachys heterocycla ‘Nabeshimana’ Bamboo

The huge stones that make up the fortress walls

A view of the cityscape beyond the park

We headed towards Akihabara, the electronics district. I’m not going to lie – Lindsay was much more enthused about this particular outing than I was, however, even for the tech layman, this place is worth checking out. Beyond the hardcore electronics stores, there are these amazing shops that are about 9 stories tall – you take the escalator from floor to floor, and each of the floors contain something completely different. For example: Floor 1 – fishing equipment, floor 2 – themed photo booths for women, floor 3 – music themed video arcades, floor 4 – ‘grab-it’ claw games, floor 5 – halloween costumes .. you get the picture. There are dozens of these stores, each with a slightly different twist, and each filled with throngs of Japanese teenagers, mesmerized by computer games. Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to take photos in the stores themselves, but here are a couple of shots taken from the street.

Finally, we headed over to Ginza, the high-end shopping district. It looked similar to basically every other high-end shopping district I’ve seen, but some of the buildings were quite striking, and the main street was closed to become a pedestrian walkway, making window shopping more enjoyable. Here are a few of the more interesting shops:

Then, on our way home, we passed by what has to be the most evil looking building I have ever seen:

Straight from a James Bond movie. I have no idea what company is housed here, but it is not up to any good. It kind of reminded me of our class visit to Petrobras in Rio last year … similar vibe.

After a nap, LInds and I embarked on a mission to find a Ramen house called Nagi, which we had read about in the NY Times. Sadly, though we saved the map and brought it with us for guidance, after an hour, we were still unable to find the restaurant. Luckily, we have yet to encounter a bad meal here, and the soba/ramen joint that we happened upon instead was delicious! Here’s a shot of our dinner – instead of getting a bowl of noodles in broth, the noodles (these are soba, not ramen) come in a separate bowl, and you dip them into the rich broth (spicy and non-spicy, respectively, pictured below).

After another early morning rise (4:30 this time, we appear to be digressing), Lindsay and I headed over to the Toyko Metropolitan Government Office (Town Hall?) to check out the view from the observation deck on the 51st floor. Here is a :30 video that showcases the amazing panorama from the South Viewing Deck:

We walked down through Yoyogi to Meiji-jinju, a beautiful Shinto shrine dedicated by the people of Japan to the Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken in 1920. We also had the opportunity (along with about 200 other tourists) to witness a traditional Shinto wedding that was taking place that day.

We continued towards the legendary Harajuku neighbourhood, to check out the trendy youth scene of Tokyo. Photos won’t do justice to the myriad looks that we encountered there – many stereotypical, but some truly original and fanciful. I have been continually impressed by the the fashion of Tokyo, which is oftentimes unique and never boring.

We continued our journey through Shibuya, aided along the way by street signs that not only helped us navigate our way through the streets of Tokyo, but helped reassure us that rules and regulations don’t have to be scary – they can be adorable!

We then paid a visit to the equally notorious Love Hotel Hill, where a series of over-the-top themed hotels rent rooms for the night and by the hour. Since space, and therefore privacy, tend to be at a premium in Japanese homes, many married Tokyo couples will actually rent rooms at these hotels in an effort to steal a few hours of quality alone time. They are pretty classy joints!

Finally, we took a walk through Shibuya’s Yoyogi Park, which was unbelievably vibrant and full of activity. We saw drummers, dancers, soccer players, traditional Japanese musicians, poppers, beatboxers and baseball players. There were also many more Westerners than we’d seen in other parts of the city, many of whom were enjoying the park’s activities with Japanese friends.

We decided to wander the streets to find a place for dinner and ended up at a small Izakaya near our hotel in Shinjuku. The interior was completely wooden, and the staff consisted of one chef and one waitress. This was all well and good, however, there was one small issue … the menu looked like this:

… And our waitress spoke no English. Luckily, we knew two Japanese words – “sake” and “sashimi”, and the chef knew one English word – “meat”, so we ended up with a delicious meal, including the most delicious and beautifully presented sashimi I have ever encountered. We also provided some much needed entertainment for the Japanese diners, who observed our efforts with considerable amusement.

Not surprisingly, we were up at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Rather than trying to sleep, we decided that we’d take advantage of the early hour and relative quiet of the city, and began exploring. We decided that we would make our way from Shinjuku, where we’re staying, over to the neighbourhood of Ueno by foot, and that an interesting way to do so might be to follow the Kanda river, which weaves through the northern part of the city. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that there was actually a beautiful walking path alongside the river for long stretches, which made our walk very pleasant. Here is a view of the Kanda River (the walkway is to the right)

Despite the relative quiet and solitude of the path, we encountered many signature Japanese signs and objects along the way:

Cigarette Vending Machines with Glamorous Male Models

Mystifying Park Signs

Exuberant Political Campaign Posters

Oh Tommy Lee … Why? (Incidentally, Boss coffee in a can is delicious!)

An Exciting Astro Boy Collage (randomly placed under a bridge)

About 5 km from the start of our walk, we were walking past the Four Seasons Hotel when we spotted a beautiful garden inside the grounds. A man at the gate spotted us peering in curiously and invited us to enter. It turns out that there is a full traditional Japanese garden inside the grounds of the Four Seasons that is open to the public: The Chinzan-so Gardens. It didn’t seem that the guests of the Four Seasons were taking advantage of this wonderful perk, so we had the place virtually to ourselves. Here are a couple of photos of the park:

Wishes left at the Shiratama Inari Shrine (a shrine dedicated to the fox)

A Three-Story Pagoda (one of three Pagodas in Tokyo; 900-1000 years old)

We continued our walk along the river (we had to stray from the river bed at times, but followed the general direction), and about 5 km further, we headed to the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Koraku, a ‘Special Heritage and Scenic Park’. The garden was built in 1629, during the early Edo period, for the founder of the Mito Tokugawa family. The park incorporates some concepts of the Chinese Confucian scholar Shushunsui of the Ming dynasty (such as the garden reproduction of Seiko Lake and the ‘Full Moon Bridge’, pictured below).

The name of the garden is particularly amusing; it comes from a Chinese text in Hanchuen’s ‘Gakuyoro-ki’, admired by Mitsukuni, which said that there is ‘a need for those in power to worry about maintaining power first and then enjoy power later’. Thus, the name Korakuen, meaning literally ‘the garden for enjoying power later on’. Amazing. Here are some scenes from the park:

After our visit to the park, we continued along our way to Ueno. The amazing thing about Japan is that despite the beauty of the destination sites themselves, the scenes along the way prove just as memorable, and generally a lot funnier. Here are some examples:

Finally, about 15 km and 8 hours later, we reached our destination, Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum. Interestingly, Ueno Park is also known as the ‘homeless park’, and while we were there, there was some sort of pep talk taking place there. We were struck by the orderliness of their seating arrangements:

We arrived at the the Tokyo National Museum, within Ueno Park. The museum is laid out sequentially on two floors; the visitor walks counter-clockwise through the exhibit to learn about the history of Japanese art and handicrafts. Here are some of the highlights:

Samurai Armor

Samurai Helmet

Room Dividers

Kimono Design

After a long day, we headed back to the subway. When we tried to go through the turnstiles to get back on the train, the machine wouldn’t let us through. A nice employee of the Tokyo Metro approached and informed us that we’d purchased the wrong tickets (apparently there are two companies that operate lines on the Tokyo subway). We were getting ready to throw away our 400 yen, when she promptly gave us a refund, and then accompanied us to the correct ticket machine and directed us to the correct platform. Amazing! When things work here, they work very, very well (despite the best efforts of clueless tourists).

Our journey begins! Lindsay and I arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, after a 9 hour flight from Vancouver. I have visited Japan before (with Leigh Anne, when Sharon was teaching here in 2005) but Lindsay has never visited, and I have always felt that Japan’s unique history, cuisine, culture and (most of all) quirks would immediately catapult this island nation on to his list of favourite places – it is certainly one of mine. After a rather turbulent flight, which combined with a tuna sandwich of questionable quality left me a little ill, we were on the train en route to Shinjuku station, and our hotel, the Rose Garden. I have yet to see a rose garden, but we do have what has to be one of the smallest hotel rooms I have ever seen. Our ‘double’ bed is so small, Linds and I literally have to sleep head to toe (which incidentally is working relatively well). After a walk around Shinjuku and a delicious bowl of ramen dinner, we called it a night at … 8:30.

Signs in Shinjuku

  We are located close to Tokyo’s Red Light District – only the best!

The buildings in this area are formidable

Salarymen + a random guy eating dinner

Our delicious ramen dinner