The Rain, the park and other things

---

Hi guys - I'm a bit challenged by this Japanese keyboard - it is a bit odd since keys aren't where you expect them to be. So you will need to be a bit tolerant of my typos and spelling mistakes.

I woke up to an overcast day on Wed and decided to explore the higashi/ginza area of Tokyo (where I am staying) and head over to the Imperial Gardens as well. Higashi Ginza is a ritzier area (despite the fact that I am staying here😊)- lots of the top name stores (prada etc) but lots of depatos as well (Japanese department stores) and lots of side streets with tons of character. By noon it was raining so hard that I decided to give the gardens a pass and instead brave the metro system. Now to fully appreciate this decision, you need to understand that there are 30 million people in the broader Tokyo area so you can just imagine what the system is like! I have a hard time reading the map (which so impressed me I took a picture which I will upload as soon as I figure out how😊). You buy a ticket from a machine (with Japanese lettering) and hope for the best. I spent an hour or so riding the Yamamote line which does a circle of Tokyo proper so you can see sights and get a feel for things. Not to mention the great people watching opportunities. Only had a problem once and was rescued by a very fluent (in Japanese) Aussie😊.

I then visited the basement of a chi chi depato. In Japan the basements of depatos are amazing and relatively cheap places to eat - the whole floor is devoted to take out foods packed into bento boxes which are in essence lunch boxes. I picked up an adventurous lunch and supper and decided to head back to the hotel for a bit of a break. But on the way I passed Kabukiza - a theatre devoted to the ancient art of kabuki (Japanese theatre). Kabuki actors can only be men, even though they play women characters. There is much makeup and incredible costuming involved, and the staging accommodates onstage changes. Kabuki actors inherit the trade - that is, you can only be in the theatre if your ancestors were - and it involves many many years of training. Anyway, kabuki shows can last 4 hours which is a bit much for me, but I checked the box office and a one hour show (really one act of the longer production) was starting soon so I bought a ticket. That was an amazing experience - you could also rent ear phones to hear an ongoing explanation of what was happening, but I wanted to just enjoy the view. The earphones provide this running dialogue in both Japanese and english since kabuki uses an ancient dialect of Japanese. The costumes were certainly something to see - you will have to take my word for it since photos were not allowed.

Wed night was not one of much sleep - jet lag hit big time. So I decided to make good use of it and at 5:30 this morning (Thursday) headed over to the Tsujiki fish market. It is the largest wholesale fish market in Japan and it was fast paced and hectic and incredible for the energy (not to mention the fish). For the first time I felt like I was in a crazy big city - inside the market these little machines are driven all over the place at breakneck speed by the guys buying fish at the auction, and running it to their stalls etc. Pandemonium to us outsiders😊! Got lots of pictures and met some neat old guys - a whole other side to life in Japan. You would think that after this I would be up for a traditional Japanese breakfast and enjoy some very fresh sushi, but I was very cold and after a long night ready for some coffee. So I hit a Jonathon's for pancakes😊 - but that's been the extent of the western food so far. Then I wandered around the streets surrounding the fish market where there are all kind of stalls and stores selling everything from soup to nuts - literally!

It was a great and sunny day although with a brisk wind, so in the afternoon after recovering from the early start to the fish market I headed to the Imperial Gardens. These are the grounds of the palace that the royal family live in - there is some security, but it takes the form of a few gates with a 'private: do not enter' sign on them. Can you imagine that in North America? The property was nice and a peaceful way to spend a few hours, but not many flowers blooming this early (did I mention it is still a tad brisk here?😊

So, now you are all up to speed.

Japan tidbits: 1) As I noted earlier, Japan drives on the left. In North America we drive on the right and, if you think about it, carries over to our walking. When we head down the sidewalk or through the mall we tend to walk on the right and pass on the left as well. Yeah, this whole walking thing in a world that drives on the left is a little challenging. I've done more dances with Japanese people as we both head to the same side to get out of the way of each other...took me awhile to figure out what the heck was going on😊.
2)Japan loves vending machines. Need water? food of any description? how about a beer? or underwear? Yup just check out the vending machine on any street corner.

talk to you later

---

Photos

Tokyo transport map
Seriously

Neighbourhood
Behind Ginza and the fish market

Cherry blossoms
in the Palace grounds