Tsukiji, Ginza, and Shibuya

It's our last full day in Tokyo, so we wanted to make the most of it. Going to the Tsukiji Fish Market was always on the top of the list of things we wanted to do here in Tokyo, but after the earthquake last month, the tuna auction was temporarily closed to the public. So, the good news is that I did not have to be at Tsukiji at 4AM in the morning, but the bad news is that we were not able to see the auction take place. We took the subway over to Tsukiji in the morning, and arrived a little after 9AM to walk through the wholesale area. It seems like they sell every type of seafood imaginable, and some of it is still alive. Most people in this area are vendors and wholesale buyers, but there are a few tourists. It's very busy with people running in and out of the area, and there are also a number of carts being driven around to pick up and transport the seafood. The people working at the market likely see tourists as more of a nuisance, but I'm glad we went because it's an interesting sight. After walking around a bit, we stopped off at a nearby sushi restaurant where we ate sushi for breakfast. Alexis and I shared a sushi plate. It was delicious!

Our next stop is Ginza. For those of you familiar with Japan, Ginza is home to many high end stores. However, that is not why we went to Ginza. While researching Japan, Alexis found a store called Itoya which is like Maido or Papersource in the United States. The store is about 7-8 floors dedicated to selling these types of products, so it is huge and a bit overwhelming. After a bit of shopping inside, we went back to our hotel to drop off our things. As we left the store, Alexis mentioned that she could spend an entire day inside.

Our next stop was Shibuya. Shibuya is home to a number of stores that sell trendy clothing and many younger Japanese people do their shopping here. We saw many girls all dolled up with their 4 inch heels, fake eyelashes, and unique clothing walking around. It must take them well over an hour to get ready everyday. We were hungry, so our first order of business was to find a place to eat. I found a standing restaurant where you purchase food from a machine that spits out tickets. Alexis ordered the katsudon and udon set, and I ordered the curry and soba set. We gave the tickets to the workers inside, and within 2 minutes our food came out. Up until this meal, the food portions at the restaurants were always very small. At this place, the restaurant gave full portions that you would expect to see in the United States. As a result, Alexis and I got 4 full size bowls of food for lunch for just about $17. Alexis couldn't even finish her katsudon, so I got to eat her bowl of udon in addition to my soba and curry. : ) Once we were done with lunch, we searched for Hachiko statue. We took pictures in front of the statue and of the mural nearby. After seeing Hachiko we went into Shibuya 109 which is a mall that sells trendy women's clothing. It's another massive building with eight floors of stores, and each different store is blasting different music. We were already kind of tired at this point, so we left after only a few minutes and went to Starbucks. At Starbucks, we got coffee and sat down on the second floor where we were able to people watch and see the crowds of people walking through the main intersection down below. One interesting thing about Starbucks is that they only had the tall size for sale. I don't know if this is only the case for the Starbucks that we went to or if Starbucks only sells one size in all of its stores in Japan. As a result, I think it will be a while before they introduce the Trenta size in Japan. When we're tired, we usually rest in our hotel room, but we had to be in Roppongi, so we took our break at Starbucks.