It is hard to believe that just 10 days ago we were in Phoenix. The past 10 days in Japan have been action-packed and entertaining. We`ve been busy exploring neighborhoods, sampling Japanese cuisine, people watching and meeting up with old friends.
We arrived in Japan after a 13 hour flight from Dallas. Our first adventure was at the Tsukiji Fish Market. It was the perfect activity given our jetlag. We arrived there at 5:30am and made our way through bustling fish stalls. It was fun to see one of the busiest fish markets in the world and to be able to wander aimlessly while vendors quickly passed us by. By 7am, we were waiting in line for the freshest sushi breakfast in town. It was well worth the wait and probably the best sushi we`ve ever had!
We spent the next few days making our way throughout the different neighborhoods, each with their very distinct personalities. In Asakusa, we got a taste of old Tokyo by going to the Sensoji temple. There we stumbled upon a delicious udon restaurant for lunch. Tivon had it cold, while I enjoyed it hot! After, we went to the famous Shibuya crossing, as seen in Lost in Translation. We ventured into Shop 109, which is a tower of boutiques that cater to trendy young Japanese women. The friendly staff at each of the shops has a very welcoming hello, which seems to be an endless banter of high pitched sounds. The clothes are quite expensive and the fashion gave us a good laugh. Later we went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Governmnet Building in Shinjuku. We were able to see all of Tokyo from a birds-eye view.
We spent Wednesday morning walking around the Imperial Palace and hanging out in the East Garden. In the afternoon, we went to the Ueno and the Tokyo Museum. That night, we met a friend for dinner and had Shabu-Shabu, a Japanese dish where you cook thin slices of meat in a hot pot of soup. Although we were stuffed from dinner, we decided to walk through the supermarket before heading back to the hotel. Tivon found discounted sushi and stocked up! This became a tradition moving forward.
Our last full day in Tokyo was spent in Harajuku, the shopping mecca of Tokyo. It was quite an experience and I`m sure you can find some funny youtube videos on it!!
On Friday we headed to Hiroshima. Check out Part 2 for more on this as we are now off to Shanghai!
Definitely jealous. Sounds like you're having a good time. Don't let Tivon get mercury poisoning from all the sushi.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised Tivon ate discount sushi in Tokyo since he had no problem getting sushi from a discount food truck @college in philly. He's probably OK doing that in Tokyo, but when you get to India I hope he limits his intake of the discount street-meat.
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