**This post is unfinished. Check back later for photos.
Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and still somehow managed to get to the gate at last call, which was enforced at something crazy like 30 minutes before departure. Their security procedures are ridiculous so that delayed us a bit. They check your ticket and passport at each station. They check your luggage multiple times and actually open it to look right before you get on the plane.Tsukiji fish market -where fish are sold by way of auction to restaurants and middlemen...and just a short walk from our hotel, the Ginza Capital Annex. The action starts at 5am and winds down around 6am. Basically, the auctioneers are some guys with white jackets on small podiums who shout things, and the winners use hooks to drag their fish out of the warehouse and onto these carts that almost kill you. The public isn't allowed into the main warehouse but you can buy fishies at the wholesale market right next door. It was cool to watch them prepare the fish in front of you. We came back on Thursday to catch more of the action but turns out it's closed to the public from April 8-10. So lucky we went earlier.
Snagged this sweet jacket. A little pricey bit super nice. Hoping it stays nice after it's been washed a few times.
After 6 is when we go to have sushi breakfast, a must according to both wikitravel and my guidebook. All the tourists order the chef's special, which is an assortment of sushi, but we went for a much cheaper option. There are pictures of menu items, thank goodness, outside the shop and we found one with the same fishies but in a bowl with sushi rice for ¥2100 instead of ¥3600. Worked out great and everything was delicious. I didn't even want to taint the fish with soy sauce or wasabi. We paid the bill with a ¥5000 note but the wait staff insisted we used four ¥1000 notes. We had to argue a while before getting the ¥1000 back. It was confusing because the sushi chef would say "I speaking then you speaking" which sounds like "let me talk first" when he actually meant "I said then you said."
Suijo Basu - Aka the water bus on the Sumidagawa river
We took this double decker ferry from the gardens at Hinode pier and passed under 12 bridges to make it to Asakusa. Of course I got pictures of each of the bridges...no matter how boring looking. We snagged a window seat. It took about 40 mins and cost about $8.
Senso-ji - the big Buddhist temple in Asakusa
Tea house desserts were huge and delicious. Turns out adzuki beans = the red beans I'd been raving about my whole life. We had to pass on a bunch of yummy looking stands because we were too full from these guys
Hanami party!!! - Ueno
It's cherry blossom season and the hole city is beautiful because of it. I've been pretty much obsessive about taking pictures to the point where I don't think Kevin will be in the mood to travel with me again any time soon :-( .
So likeminded folk (the entire population of Tokyo) celebrate the falling of the cherry blossoms by having hanami parties, eating and getting drunk under a cherry tree. What a beautiful thing. We found a big party in Ueno...
With a cherry blossom fairy that really tickled kevin's fancy.
Hygashi Gyoen - Imperial palace gardens
I could have spent a whole day with my camera here but only got a few hours in this huge area
Admt - advertisement museum
Just a small museum organized by time period. The old commercials were my favorite part but I think I would be okay skipping this next time.
Sony building
Four floors of sweet gadgets including a super heavy camera that could shoot at like 20 frames per second. If I had that camera I'd never have to think again! Just hold that button down and delete the bad stuff. Too bad I'm jobless.
There was also a 3D technology floor where we got to try out 3D tvs that use some sort of active 3D glasses. Looked super cool for video games.
Kabuki theater at Kabukiza
You can buy tickets for a whole show in advance for a ton of money, or you can wait in line for a long time and get cheap, one-act, standing room only tickets. We went the standing room only route. We tried to get into the first act but the line was so long we just abandoned hope and came back an hour early for the second act.
Hair dance finale!
No pictures during so there's only one of the curtain
Nami... you are WANTED!
Ghibli museum
No pictures inside
All the stuffed animals were so expensive... I really wanted another to keep my old blue totoro company.
Giants game at te Tokyo Dome next to the spokeless hubless ferris wheel
Saw some guys doing an ice cream eating competition. Glad to see some things are universal! The game was dragons vs giants, the two number one teams. The dragons ended up winning 7-4. Both teams had some MLB players...
Akihabara - nerd central
Video games and anime
Yes we saw body pillows for sale and even as prizes you could nab in a claw machine (insert link to James Franco on 30 Rock here)
It's the last day. I can't believe I haven't had "domo arigato mister roboto" stuck in my head until now. What was I thinking! Time. Wasted.
We're 16 hours ahead and only have a 12 hour flight. We're goin back in tiiiimmmmeee!
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