Our first stop was the Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest wholesale fish market in Japan. According to the guide book, the market sells 450 different kinds of seafood amounting to 2,000 tons daily. The ships start arriving as early as 3:00 am and the tuna auctions get underway by 4:40 am. We didn't arrive until 10:45, so things had probably quieted down, but it was still quiet busy. This was the first time that Kevin had visited a market of this type, so it was a very different experience for him. Our guide, Hidesada Shinazaki, took us through the dry market and then gave us time to explore on our own. I had read about the wet markets and Robin was fairly certain that she remembered how to get to them, so we were determined to find them in our twenty minutes of free time. We decided our best bet would be to follow the line of electric forklifts zipping past us. Kevin said that when I came back from Hanoi, I had developed a new habit of j-walking whenever we were in a city. After trying to navigate the intersections of forklifts and trucks, I think he now better understands why. Hanoi prepared me for anything. The wet market was impressive -- such a variety of seafood, including many things that we would not eat in the U.S., and the size of everything was enormous. We ended up being three minutes late getting back to the bus but it was worth it, and we made sure that we were back early for the remainder of the day.
The next stop was the Edo Tokyo Museum. We had been in this area yesterday with Hiromi and saw the museum, which is a very odd shape. Hide-san explained that the museum was shaped like a traditional rice granary. The museum presents the history of Tokyo from its beginning in 1590, when the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, made Edo (old Tokyo) the capital of his domain, until 1964, when Tokyo hosted its first Olympics. Hide-san guided us through some of the wooden models showing the old city and then gave us time to explore on our own. After our trip to the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art of Sunday, one of the exhibits that I found most interesting was the explanation of how woodblock prints are made. It showed each layer of the wooden block stamped in the order it was applied to the composite print. The stamp was made with the single color as well as the total print.
The bus drove us around Ryogoku past the sumo stadium to Akihabara for lunch. I was surprised when we arrived here that the Japanese drive on the left-hand side of the road. I thought that was something that only happened in former British colonies. Hide-san explained that driving on the left-hand side of the road originated from samurai times. Samurai warriors carried their swords on the left, so they walked on the left so as to not bump swords and incite a confrontation.
Akihabara is the shopping district for electronics, anime and manga stores. The guide book calls it the mecca for otaku, or geek, culture. Our lunch was Shabu-shabu, which is the Japanese version of hotpot. We sat at a table that had a pot of boiling water. The waiter brought us plates of thinly sliced beef and pork and we went up to a buffet where we made up plates of raw vegetables and noodles. Then we used our chopsticks to put the meat in the water. It cooked very quickly.
After lunch we had time to walk around the seven story electronics store. Kevin was able to locate a Blu-ray copy of a Studio Ghibli film he desperately wanted, The Secret World of Arrietty, as the English dialogue track is different between the American and British versions of the film, and this is the only release that includes both. He was excited because this was at the top of his list of things to bring back as souvenirs.
The next stop on the tour was Asakusa. This is the only area remaining in Tokyo where you can see any remnants of the old Edo period Tokyo. We visited the Sensoji Temple, which is the oldest temple in Tokyo, founded in the 7th century. It was by far the largest temple I've ever visited. Hide-san explained the way to pray at a Buddhist temple, which was very helpful. We've visited a number of temples, but I've never fully understood what was taking place. When you enter the temple, you wash your hands, left first and then right, then your mouth, swishing the water around and then spitting it out, and finally, the handle of the of the ladle before putting it back in the fountain for the next person to use. Next, you walk through the smoke cloud created by the burning incense so that the scent will remain with you when you enter the temple. Finally, you chant your prayer. You can also purchase a fortune in the temple. If it's a bad fortune, you tie it to a wire and the fortune will stay in the temple rather than remaining with you. The way of praying at a Shinto shrine is different, though. When you enter the shrine, you bow twice and then clap twice to get the gods' attention, then bow again when you finish praying.
There was actually a prayer ceremony going on at the temple. This was the first time I have been able to witness Buddhist monks chanting prayers. I also asked Hide-san about all of the dog statues we had been seeing. He told us these were people praying for the gods to either protect their unborn baby or a baby who had died young.
We had some free time in Sensoji Temple so we wandered around the covered shopping arcades surrounding the Temple. I'm glad we spent our time in the shopping arcades rather than the main road leading to the temple, which was more of a tourist trap lined with stands selling kitschy souvenirs. The stands were within the sacred temple gates and I couldn't help but to think about the Bible passage in which Jesus enters the temple and banishes the merchants and money changers. I guess there is no Buddhist equivalent.
From the temple, it was a short walk to the Sumida River Cruise, which traveled under all thirteen bridges along the Sumida River. I was a little disappointed in this one. I guess I was hoping for more narration explaining what was along the river banks, but this was just a boat ride. We saw several things that looked like they might be locks. I need to try to Google that later.
The remainder of the day was mainly a bus tour of Ginza, Tokyo's high-end shopping district, with even fancier couture stores than we had seen in Harajuku, and a trip past the Imperial Palace. We may try to go back to the Imperial Palace gardens after the tour. I take back what I said about the buildings in Tokyo not being very tall. In Robin's neighborhood this is true. I guess it's more residential. The neighborhoods we drove through on the tour were the towering glass skyscrapers and bright lights I expected to see. Hide-san later explained that up until 1960, there was a building height restriction in Tokyo. In 1960, they were finally confident that building technology could withstand an earthquake.
We got back to our hotel around 6:30 and checked in. I think this is by far the fanciest hotel in which Kevin has ever stayed. It was early, so we decided that we could explore Odaiba. We had seen the ferris wheel from Tokyo Tower, so we knew we wanted to see that. The shuttle bus running from our hotel dropped us off at a shopping center called Palette Town. Evidently, this is also the name of the fictitious town from which Ash in Pokemon is from, so Kevin was very excited. The center was also home to the Toyota show room and museum. The ferris wheel is the largest in the world and it took about a half hour to make one revolution around.
From the Ferris wheel, we were able to walk through the park to Diver City, which had the life-sized Gundam at the front entrance. Apparently, Gundam is a popular anime series with which I am unfamiliar. The Gundam had his own show with lights, smoke and an animated story projected behind it, all in Japanese of course. We walked through Diver City, which is a large shopping mall, and then across the street to Aqua City, which had a movie theatre, arcades and restaurants. We had dinner at a Mexican place where Kevin could get a burger. He's been so good about trying all of the Japanese food that I told him he could eat western for the night. After dinner it was a short walk back to our hotel. On the way we passed a replica of the Statue of Liberty. We felt totally safe walking around the streets of Tokyo at 11:00 at night, more so than I feel in Philadelphia and New York. The goal was to get to bed early, but it ended up being midnight yet again.
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