Today we started exploring Tokyo from its centre: Tokyo Station. We took a train from our nearest train station to Tokyo station (it's just a 15-minute ride and free for us, because we have 7-day train passes). There we checked out some modern shinkansen, or bullet trains. They look very futuristic and move with dizzying speed. One had 2 floors, very cool.

After we left the station, we walked to Ginza district, famous for its high-end shops (Luis Vuitton, Bulgari, Chanel, etc .). But first we stopped at a specialty shop called Ibaraki Marche, that sells products from Ibaraki prefecture; there we purchased the "Ultimate Melonpan", the prefecture's specialty. Since we tried the "Second Best" melonpan at Kanazawa, I wanted to try the very best, so that was it. This melon bread is made without water, only using real melon juice, it has a slightly crunchy greenish outer shell and soft orange dough inside, like a real melon. Creamy filling completes the bread nicely, so it definitely has the right to be called "ultimate" melonpan!

Then we walked through Ginza, stared at the crowds and peeked into some pricey shops. Finally we reached Tokyo's famous Tsukiji Fish Market, where top sushi chefs buy the best pieces of tuna for their restaurants every morning from 5 to 6 am. Unfortunately, when we got to the market at 1 pm, all the fresh catch was already sold, buyers and sellers gone and special cars were washing the floors. The building is still pretty impressive, even without the morning chaos: it is an enormous dark hangar reeking of fish and filled with hundreds of stalls and thousands of white Styrofoam boxes used to transport the fish . I saw a huge rat scuttling under the stalls, though, and some parts of the buildings seem to be held together with rust and duct tape. Apparently the market will be moved to a new building next year, however.

Having checked out the market, we had some sushi at a nearby restaurant. We picked the daily special that the chef makes using the fish from the nearby market. I think anyone would be able to tell the difference between that sushi and what you get in Canada... The taste is simply outstanding, each piece has it's own character and texture and is fresh to the max.

Then we moved back towards the Tokyo station and the Imperial Palace. On the way there we stopped by several used camera stores in Ginza that we selling some exotic and vintage cameras and I checked out an old lens in one of them (Nikkor 55mm 1.2 AI), but was not impressed with its quality and price. Then we made it to the palace, which is off-limits for regular people, so we looked at it from across the moat .

Then we took another to train to Akihabara district - a heaven for all kinds of nerds: computer, game, anime, robot, manga, etc. The area is filled with several kinds of shops: 1) used and new electronics, 2) use and new computers and computer parts, 3) anime, manga, cosplay, figurines, games, robots, r/c models, and such things, 4) amusement centres: karaokes, arcades, pachinko parlours and finally 5) maid cafes. We thoroughly geeked out for a few hours, walking around electronic shops, checking out manga and anime, character goods and figurines, it was pretty fun! Some of the stores had adult-only floors with extremely explicit content, that's preyy much expected from Japan %) We also dropped by a nearby shrine which now sells IT charms that protect your devices from evil forces %) Then we had enough of this otaku cornucopia and rested at a maid cafe for a while. The maid cafe we visited is located inside already weird Don Quijote (known as Donki here) and is called @ Home Cafe. It features ridiculously cutesy girls dressed in maid outfits, who serve you colourful drinks with drawings on foam and cute desserts . Photos are not allowed at these cafes, but we had a chance to pose with one of the girls (of your choice) for a cheesy Polaroid photo :)