Tokyo Rocks!

As some of you, who have travelled with me, know I LOVE to ride the subway (Yes, even in TO)... Tokyo is the MOTHERLAND! I was going to go with the bus tour but once I started on the subway I just couldn`t stop,,, I rode is all day long! With an all day pass for $10 I was set! My experience wasn`t as crowded as the video although there was one time where it was very packed!

As my last post mentioned I was starting the day really early and after some coffee & breakfast at local coffee shop (can you freaking believe that Starbucks here wasn`t open at 7am! Jody & Kim you feel my pain, right?) I realized nothing is open until around 9am to 10am. Well except the fish market! So I decided to go to the only thing open.

So not knowing where to go (after the subway exit) I followed I guy with a basket... because I figured if you are a guy with a basket you have to be headed to the fish market? Turns out I was right... I did get a positive sign when we crossed paths with a man, his basket and his fish. The Tsukji Market (especially early in the morning) is where all the locals and restaurants go to buy their fresh fish right from the ocean. Stepping off the subway there was a fishy smell but amazingly when you got closer to the market there was less and less smell. They had all sorts of fish and amazing amounts of things I didn`t even imagine! It was really neat to see the sushi grade tuna... I saw one place with two men sawing a huge tuna with a two handled saw (think old school lumberjack). I got some great photos!

After the Market... it was only 8:30 so I decided to walk to the Hama-riyu Gardens (most subway exits have signes in English and Japanese telling you how far in meters the tourist attractions are so I knew the gardens were walking distance). When I got there the gardens didn`t open until nine... It felt right out of amazing race when you get some place and you have to hang around outside until it opens. So I back tracked a bit to the 7-11 and bought my first drink of the day by label guessing. I figured made by coke was a good bet turned out to be cold tea! AWESOME!

The gardens are on the ocean and I believe is the only remaining garden in Tokyo that brings the sea into the garden (controlled by the tide and these fancy locks). Amazing views of the ocean and of the city. Not a lot of flowers in bloom but very beautiful trees. This place was originally a emperor`s duck hunting area (get this Dad, they used to hide in duck blinds, feed them rice to get them to come close and then catch them with a net! What do you think... would that work in Canada?) I also checked out the tea garden (which was closed) but this lady came running up to me saying excuse me, excuse me! She wanted to talk to me about my trip and where I was from. She was SO excited when I told her I was from Canada as she was just in Canada at Christmas... she went to Niagra Falls and Toronto. She went on about how excited she was that I had come to visit her country... she was even excited to learn that I knew how to use chop sticks (yes, she was an unbelievably excited lady!)

After the gardens it was getting on to 10 and it looked like the day could clear up so I figured it was the best time to head over the the Tokyo Tower. It looks like the Eiffel Tower but painted red and white. I rode the elevator to the top and the view was impressive... It was still foggy but I think (or I want to believe that I saw a bit of the Mt. Fuji) I was pretty quick with the tower... I realized I might be seeing things a bit too fast.

When I was in the garden I ran into another tourist that recommended I go to the Senso-ji temple... not originally on my list of things to do... it was the first place she recommended (so glad she did!) I stopped at the 7-11 for lunch and totally lucked out I got a chicken and a green onion rice ball (Thanks Kim for the tips!) and was a little shocked at the chocolate flavoured cold tea drink. The route to the temple was full of shopping so I picked up a few items and these yummy red bean and rice pancake cookies... you can see them making them fresh right there and they come warm. The actual temple was beautiful. I visited the main temple as well as the small on to the side that is based on your birth year. My budda had flames! I stayed here for a while and could have stayed longer but there were a few other things I really wanted to see.

After the temple I headed (across town) to a shrine for those who died in wars up to WW II.　This place is where all the ashes of those who died in the war were brought regardless of the relative`s wishes. I can`t remember the name of the shrine off the top of my head but it was very beautiful and VERY big!

Next was the Imperial Palace. You can only see the outside (they only let people in twice a year for New Year`s and the Emperor`s birthday).　The outside and the surrounding moat & garden were breathtaking! I got tons of photos through the rain (at this time it was POURING!) Luckily I`m not made of sugar & and I brought an umbrella.

I tried to base my day so I could end up at in Ginza as I could catch the JR Rail line to my hotel (covered with my rail pass) as my (insert quotations as I`ve still can`t find them on this keyboard!) all-day subway pass expired at 5:30pm. In Ginza, I saw the Mikimoto pearl store (the first place ever to sell pearls!) and a whole bunch of other haute-couture shore... Louis Vuitton (tons of really bags parading round this area on the high class ladies!) I went to the Sony show room which was really neat... I saw an HD video camera... and OMG it is SWEET! You can actually demo everything and the regular verus HD is completely unbelievable! I walked by and viewed the department store windows but I didn`t go in... I was pretty much soaked and not in the haute-couture shopping mood.

In my search for the Sony store, which I past 3 times (!) before I found it, I spotted a Shabu-Shabu restaurant. Highly recommended as an experiece I decided to go back after all my touring to check it out. After accidently being seated at a German resataurant (They even had pork knuckle!) I found the Shabu-Shabu place. You order at the front, I decided to go with the $50 Shabu-shabu but the host did a go job of trying to upsell me but, really, how would I know the difference between $50 Shabu-Shabu and $150 Shabu-Shabu? It was a great four-couse meal. I had this horseradish scallop thing to start (very tasty) and then some sashimi (I think that`s the right word) which was two types of raw tuna. Then it was Shabu-Shabu time! Basically you are giving a pot with boiling water and you swirl beef in the water to cook it. There are also tons of veggies and some bean noodles (you totally get to slurp the noodles!) after everything is cooked and eaten they cook some udon noodles in the water which has not become beef broth... they add salt and peper and you get a little soup. For dessert it was vanilla or green tea ice cream... I opted for green tea, I figured you can get vanilla anywhere!

I was home and in bed by eight completely exhausted! I slept until 1am (which is Noon I think?) and figured I would come and blog because I couldn`t sleep! Off to Hiroshima tomorrow!

People here are so so nice and touring around here is remarkably EASY! All the subway lines are colour coded (the trains have the colours) each station has a number each platform another number! There are signs everywhere most in English and Japanese (if you back track to the last place you saw Japanese and English and memorize the symbols for where you want to go you can make it by the Japanese only signs). They have people stationed at major metro stations and tourist attractions to help you and really so helpful... one lady got up from here post to give me directions to the metro station outside!

Okay it`s super late and I should at least attempt to sleep before I get up at 6am (luckily, it`s like getting up at 5pm right now) so I can be in Hiroshima before Noon.

GO SENS GO! We need the split! I will be sporting my SENS shirt all day! well, when it actually becomes day!