Friday 4th October warm with some light showers, humid. 28C
After a hearty breakfast we met our guide Sylvia for an 8 hour private tour of Tokyo.
It was up to us to decide the itinerary and we set off for the fish markets. We took the train and also learnt how to navigate the system and the ticket gates.
The fish markets were very different with many small stalls or individual businesses selling a variety of fish. I have never seen oysters that were the size of the palm of your hand. There were blow fish, salmon, lots of tuna, octopus and shrimp. A lot of dried fish including whitebait and bags of seaweed and shaved fish. The markets were crowded.
Across the street was the Namiyoke Shrine which is for the God of waves. People from the markets pray here, local shrines are everywhere scattered through the city and relevant to the surrounding businesses.
From here we walked to the Hama Rikyu gardens. These are located near reclaimed land and are on sea water. They have a lock system that drains excess water after rain. It is an interesting garden because it was used for duck hunting. They were caught and killed inside the gardens for fun by Feudal Lords. We noticed a lot of familiar plants, fruit trees, crepe myrtle, azaleas, maple and Ginkgo trees.
After the gardens we ventured into one of the retail district where UNIQLO has a 12 story store. We had a coffee and sat for a short while, then made our way through a few floors of clothes to window shop.
This is in the Ginza district where the most expensive shops are located.
We visited a showroom with unique electric cars by Nissan and some very old cars by Datsun.
Next was Tokyo Central which is an impressive building made from red bricks, not Japanese looking at all. This is the centre of Tokyo and where the train station "Tokyo Central" is.
We caught the train to Akihabara where the IT, animation and electronics district is located.
We had lunch at a bakery and it was good to sit down for a while, we have been on our feet for hours.
From here we walked to the IT district where you can buy "junk" IT, second hand or the latest gadgets and high tech devices. We visited the Yodobashi Store checking out everything from the latest washing machines, TV's Fridges, headphones keyboards and floors of anything electrical. I was fascinated at the fridges with 6 doors, knowing me I would have to open every one to find what I was looking for. We visited another shrine for the IT district. There are shrines all over the city so the locals who work nearby can come and get their fortune. If it is good they take it with them, if not they tie their bad fortune to a cord and leave it behind. We farewell our guide Sylvia at 5pm back at our hotel.
Our day has been long but enjoyable. Dinner tonight is very nice at a local restaurant, curry and a souffle with mushroom, sausage and rice.
2025-02-16