Rainy Tokyo

---

What a foreign experience to 'enjoy' 24 hours of rain! It started on Friday evening when I headed out for a self-guided tour of Shinjuku, the CBD location of my accommodation. Tokyo need not be expensive, I am staying in a brand new 4 star hotel for $85 a night!! Anyway I had a great meal at a tempura restaurant then got lost on my walk but found my way back home eventually in the driving rain. Saturday I was up at 5.30am to go to the Tsukiji fish market, that handles 18% of all the world's fish. The idea is to have a fresh sushi breakfast but as it was wet and about 12c I had katsu don (crumbed pork cutlet on rice) instead. Then to the Senso Ji shrine in the Matabachi (old Tokyo) neighbourhood where I enjoyed a stroll. The shrine was flooded with local tourists, all snapping away in the rain. Then to Akihabara the electronics and manga precinct. Prices and technology fairly similar to Australia. Topped the day off with a walk in the swish shopping distrct of Ginza where they close down the promenade for the weekend. Our dept stores look tiny and bland by comparison. After 11 hours walking I reached the hotel. Then at 7.30pm I met Ohgi and her 10 yo son Koki. Ohgi was an exchange student in the year below me at Donald High. It was great to catch up with her after 25 years (!) and have a deep conversation with a local. Ohgi teaches english and is most proficient. Finally a note on the tokyo train system. Wonderfully efficient and clean but can be daunting! There's three different companies each requiring different tickets unless you buy a pass. And often the 3 companies all have lines operating from the same station!

---