Romping around Tokyo

As is pretty standard with large changes in time zones and traveling, Greg and I were up at 5am. Most things didn't open until 10. We first walked through the periphery of the Tsukiji Fish Market. Each time I come, the restrictions become more and more strict on this famous market. I guess tourists such as ourselves are ruining the whole experience by standing in the way in the narrow aisles and slowing down the sale of fish with our cameras and instagram selfies with giant fish.

By now, things were starting to open, so we went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. It covers a lot of history and has a lot of life-size structures to liven up the aforementioned history. Things got interesting in the 20th century. There was a temporary exhibit of photographs from the last 150 years. Naturally, this covered World War Two, and what was fascinating was not just the complete destruction of the city of Tokyo, but the fast pace at which it was rebuilt.

One thing I have learned about Japan in the 30s and 40s, is that they have a selective acknowledgement of world events. Unlike Germany, which has grappled with its dark past head on, Japan acts more embarrassed while at the same time denying through omission. The museum, for its part, did acknowledge the war and made light of poor tactical decisions on the Japanese side that led to so many deaths during the firebombing of Tokyo, but it fell short of really explaining the root causes of all these horrific events.

After the museum, we walked to the Akihabara, or electronics district. One of Greg's "must-sees" was Yodobashi Camera, which is not just a camera store, but a massive complex of anything electronic covering over 8 floors with anything from refrigerators to rice cookers, video games, cell phone cases, and Star Wars toys. Greg was having great debate over whether to buy a particular camera lens or not. He would save over $100 by buying it in Japan, but we had to weigh the pros and cons over a couple of beers and okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake with various stuffings). We ate at the top of Yodobashi after narrowing our choice down from the 20+ options of different restaurants. This setup is pretty common in Japan with self-contained shopping centers. And if the anticipation isn't killing you, Greg did decide to buy the lens. He was very happy.





We returned to the hotel and then proceeded to take some pictures at night from a nearby pedestrian overpass. Below is the outcome of that venture.

For our final act of the evening, I took Greg to Shibuya crossing, the busiest crosswalk in the world. I tried to get us an elevated view of the intersection, so I went into a multi-level shopping center in hopes of finding a cafe or restaurant overlooking the street. We had overpriced beers and parfait on the 8th floor of the building while watching the streets below. Then, after our unfortunately high bill, we discovered that there was an actual viewing platform on the roof that usually charges, but for whatever reason was now free. Oh well...I shall keep this in mind for next time.