Below is our typical new family arrival photo.
That night was pretty much shot, we just got Japanese fast food from the Sukiya. I had made plans for 5:00 in the morning to go to Tsukiji fish market so after a quick dinner we hit the beds.
In the morning we got moving a little slowly, but made it to Tsukiji plenty early. Tsukiji is the largest fish market in the world. From Wikipedia I found that there are over 400 different types of seafood available at the market and over 2000 metric tons of seafood pass through Tsukiji per day. When we arrived I was not completely sure were to go. I just followed the flow of people in. Once inside I was a little startled by how dangerous it could be to walk around with the children. There are tons of carts hauling a variety of products throughout the facility. They travel through every nook and cranny and it is your responsibility to stay out of the way. We paired each child with an adult to keep them from getting run down. Even with that system Kate looked the wrong way once and almost got hit. We walked around for a bit looking at the different sea life that was available.
Here Claire is posing with some eels that were for sale.
An entire pile of fish being prepped for sale.
For me the most impressive fish to see were the huge frozen tuna. There were giant band saws being used to slice the giant fish into smaller pieces.
And those bits were hauled off by cart.
I am not sure how they freeze the tuna, but they looked to be rock solid frozen.
Once we had our fill of looking at all the sea life being processed at the market we decided it was time for some breakfast. I typically don't eat sushi for breakfast, but what better place to have it then the place it comes right out of the ocean. We wondered around the market a bit until we could stumble on to the restaurants. The seating is extremely limited so they require everyone to place an order. The menu items are limited so Claire took the children off to explore while Greg, Kate, Jake, and myself ate extremely fresh sushi.
I can say that the salmon and tuna sushi were the right with the best I have eaten, the other offerings were also very good, but if I ever make it back I won't waste my time on the other selections, I would go straight for the tuna and salmon...
The market is filled with carts, fork trucks, trolly carts. Just about everything is used to haul the see food. I snagged a picture of this cool bike as we were walking by. I liked the picture so I threw it on here.
From Tsukiji we headed for Asakasa. Asakasa is an older area with temples and a variety of souvenir shops. We took our time taking in the sights and looking in the shops for interesting things.
Kate, Liam, and Colleen showed Rachael and Jake the steps for going to the temples. Below they are wafting the smoke from the incense, I believe this in an act of purification.
I was able to get all the children to stand in front of one of the temple protectors.
This was a bronze Buddha statue at the temple.
When we walked away from the temple we stumbled on a monkey show. There were benches lined up in a circle around a makeshift arena and a women with her monkey put on a show for us.
The show was for donations, but actually it was pretty good. Kate took some video of him doing some tricks. This video was a platform jump to hand walk....impressive.
From Asakasa we walked right past this cool panda bus.
And straight toward this wicked cool boat (WCB). This boat was designed by a famous Japanese cartoonist named Leiji Matsumoto. One of his cartoons was Space Battleship Yamato. The boat ride is about 40 minutes and goes from Asakusa to Tokyo bay.
It is a very futuristic boat. I wanted to ride it the last time we rode the water taxi, but it has limited operation and we were not able to get on it. This time we had to wait about an hour, but we were able to secure tickets for the ride.
The inside is also futuristic and the panoramic windows give you a nice view of the city as you cruise down the river.
Our arrival location was Odaiba seaside park. This island contains a smaller version of the statue of liberty dating from the year 2000. For some reason the French placed a small statue of liberty there from 1998-1999 to commemorate the "French year in Japan". It was popular enough that in 2000 this statue was put up to replace it.
Odaiba is also home to the interesting looking Fuji building. We didn't spend much time on the island, we were tired from getting up at 5:00..
We hopped on a monorail to get back to Tokyo and the subway system and then to the hotel for a nap. The Monorail went over the bay on a bridge and provided some more interesting views of the city.
In the evening after I could drag everyone out of bed we made our way to the Sunshine 60 building. It is the second tallest building in Japan with 60 stories. The elevator is the second fastest in the world. It has an image inside to show how quickly you were moving and it was very fast. The view from the top was amazing. As far as you can see there are buildings, and that is in every direction. Tokyo is unbelievably big..
And a short video from the top observation deck that is outside.
At the top were some Halloween costumes you could put of for photo opts. The younger children were excited to participate.
To round out the evening we stopped at Shibuya. That is were the huge intersection is with a crazy number of people all crossing at one time. First we hit up one of the many ramen noodle shops in the area for dinner and then the Starbucks to watch the people crossing the street from an elevated view.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy morning. Once we all got moving we took the subway to Meiji Jingumai temple.
While at the temple we saw a number of younger girls dressed in beautiful kimonos. I don't exactly remember the ages, but something like girls of age 3 and 7 dress in formal kimonos and go to the temple. If those numbers are correct the girl below should be 7.
Pictured are some of the casks of Sake that have been blessed at the temple.
As we were walking around there were two different weddings taking place. It was nice to see everyone dressed so formally, everyone looked so proud.
Liam, the bug whisperer, found this preying mantis at the temple. He walked with it the entire time we were at the temple and then let it go at the edge of the woods just before leaving the temple grounds. This temple has so many trees that while you are there you actually forget that you are in the middle of a huge city.
Outside the temple grounds it is a short walk to Harujuku. This area is interesting to shop and for people watching. We found a shop selling necklaces that could be personalized with your name in Katakana. It turned out to be the souvenir of choice on the day.
After eating lunch at a Japanese/Italian restaurant we took a trip to Ueno and browsed the 7 story toy store there called Yamashiroya. I could spend tons of money in places like this, but have learned to resist the urge to buy everything cool and walked away empty handed. Before going back to the hotel to pick up our luggage we spent a few minutes in Ueno park. We didn't stay long because it was getting late, but it looks like a very nice park. If possible I want to go back for the cherry blossoms in the spring.
On the way back to Utsunomiya the Eschmeyers really wanted to take the Shinkansen. They are the fastest trains in Japan. Typically we don't ride them because it cost twice as much as the local trains, but since our visitors were interested we complied. It takes about 45 minutes to the local trains 1hour and 40 minute trip. I have to say it is very nice. Unfortunately with a family of four it is also very expensive so next time, back to the locals it will be.
The seats are very much like an airplane only more comfortable and with legroom. There is even a food/drink cart that comes around to serve you. None of that is available on the local train ride.
That is all for this post, I am tired and going to bed...Have a good week.
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