Fish, Gardens, and Fun!

I woke up pretty early this morning. The alarm was set for 7 am and I got up at 6:30. I guess my body's already adjusted to the time difference. I usually wake up a little earlier than this for work. I think it might be from the drinking last night. And you know what? NO hangover... I don't even feel a little dizzy. Yoko did tell me to drink some Pocari Sweat last night. I guess she was right...I won't question her advice anymore. Ok, I'll try not to question her advice.

Putt Putt in Tsukiji
Aaah. I think everyone has got to love that fish smell at 9:00 in the morning. As we're walking across the street, a little putt putt vehicle zooms right by us. "What was that?" I asked myself. We go across several streets and I keep seeing those putt putts. We keep walking, then we turn around. What? Yoko went the wrong way. Maybe I'll only listen to Yoko when it comes to having too much to drink...
There's another one!! Putt putt goes pretty fast!
Finally! One of those things get stopped from a street light.
We cross through a warehouse area and we get swarmed by these putt putts. I start to like these vehicles because they're small and it can maneuver through the small aisles.
BEEP! "I think we're messing up their groove," someone says as we're walking through.
People were looking at us like we were not suppose to be there. We walked through rows and rows of fish vendors and cutters. Another one passes by and I see the biggest scallop shells I've ever seen. I thought to myself, "I have got to try the scallops when we eat sushi."
I thought we were going to see the auctions, but Jayson told us it was off limits because too many tourists were coming and the auctioneers couldn't work. I was disappointed, but the mention of food got me off the subject right away. "It is the best sushi I have ever had!" exclaims Jayson.
Did he say the "best" sushi? I have to try it.
The line to Dai Wa Zushi was about 30 people long. I had to wait about 45 minutes in line before I got in. Some people decided to skip sushi and try something else. The restaurant could hold about 20 people. There were actually 2 places to eat. I was lucky enough to get a seat by Mango and Judy. Great! Someone can eat my ebi (shrimp)! I can't eat shrimp because of my allergies. Now I can save face in front of the sushi chef. I have never had uni (sea urchin) before this day. My best friend told me it was gross and she didn't like it, so I never bothered to try. I sat down and ordered the Chef's Special. Basically, the sushi chef makes one of everything they had, almost everything. I pass my ebi over to Mango and tell her she can have it. The chef was very friendly and asked us where we were from. We said Hawaii and he replied, "ah, Kamehameha."
That was the second time someone said his name while we're here. Apparently, King Kamehameha is very popular to the Japanese or they just enjoy saying Kamehameha.
OH wow! This sushi is delicious! Time to face up to the sea urchin. I dip the sushi in the shoyu and place it in my mouth. It is so good! I don't know what my friend was talking about. I ate all of my sushi before Judy and Mango finished theirs. Then I saw it...The scallops.

They were right in front of me the whole time. I had to order one. And what the heck, I decided to get another order of uni. This time, I'll eat these slowly and enjoy them. We still had about an hour left to roam around. I decided to stay with Mango and Judy and we walked around the little shops.

Fresh edamame! Fresh! I've only had pre-frozen ones at home. I wonder if these taste better...They have to be better, they're fresh.

We keep walking and I stop to read this sign:
"Okay! I'll only be injured some of the time." I say as I chuckle to myself.
The translations are so literal here, that signs end up reading like this. We know what they mean, but sometimes its just funny.

When we got done digesting our food, we made our way to the center of Tokyo. Jayson starts his history lesson of the Imperial Grounds.

The Imperial Palace is the focal point of the city. The Tokugawa family was very clever in relocating the capital to Edo, now Tokyo, and built the imperial castles in the center so the family can retain control and at the same time the Emperor can recapture his old glory.
This is a picture of the moat of the Imperial Grounds (behind the people).
We walk into the gardens and I honestly think it is the most peaceful park I have ever been to. There are no kids running around making noise. Before we make our way to the gates, we stop by a statue of a person who exemplifies loyalty, courage, and selflessness.

Kusonoki Masashige is the embodiment of a true warrior. He fought to the death for his Emperor. It is a shame that he has been somewhat forgotten.

We take a little break from walking to take some photos and Travis and I got to eat some ice cream. We then make our way to the palace.

Actually, we can't even get past the gates. I guess others before us were too intrusive so we have to stay outside. Here's the class at the bottom of the hill towards the gate.

-A note on the architecture of the Imperial Palace-
As long as I have been interested in architecture, I have always wondered how Asian architecture achieved that curve at the end of their roofs. I really like how it looks, it gives a house some character.

Off to Odaiba

Enough of the serious stuff, let's have some fun already. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what Odaiba was. All I remember from the reading was that we had to go over the Rainbow Bridge (pictured below) to get there. I also knew there were lots of shopping centers. There is so much more there than what I thought. We take the Yurikamome, the new monorail of Tokyo, to Odaiba. As we step off the Yurikamome, I get the feeling we've been transported to the future. Is this place still part of Tokyo? The buildings here look like they belong somewhere in the distant future.
"Why don't we have buildings like these at home?" said Beverly as we're taking pictures of the surrounding area.
It would be great if we had something like the Fuji TV building. Who would have thought to use a ball as a design element for a building? I think it looks great!




Jayson lets us loose upon Odaiba. My roommates, Travis and Vince, and I ask the girls, Bev, Aja, and Stacey, what they're going to do. They decide they want to go shopping. We decide to eat. We go into AquaCity to find a place to eat. We find out there's a ramen food court on the top floor and decide to go there. Its the first time we've been left alone, without Jayson to help us out, so we have to do things on our own. Luckily, Vince knows Japanese pretty well. After we burn our tongues with the Ramen, we walk around the mall. We walk into another mall and we see Joypolis. Now the fun begins. We purchase an all day pass and enter the virtual reality gaming complex. It is like Dave and Busters on steroids without the alcohol. There was a half pipe ride which always had a line. So we decide to explore the other 3 floors. We spent roughly 3 hours in the complex and we realized the sun had gone down.
The Rainbow Bridge becomes a spectacle at night. Savvy entrepreneurs take advantage of this and offer a sunset boat cruise. The boat cruise is very popular because I think there at least 20 boats floating in Tokyo Bay when I took this photo.
The Odaiba ferris wheel is a sight to see. It is huge! No, we did not ride this giant wheel. It would probably take about 30 minutes for the ride anyway. We didn't have that much time to waste.