One morning Kylie and I got up far too early to visit the infamous fish markets. We arrived, got lost by  following a man in gumboots, then a man with a flax bag. We eventually, after walking around a vege market, found some people selling fish. We never made it to the big auction hall, because being silly buggers we did not enter via the main entrance, where the map supposedly was. Instead we walking around chaotic, busy, bustly noisy, fishy warehouses dodging fast moving R2D2 carts swaying between amusement and nervous irritation for not bringing the guide book. All and all the crazy little visit was alot of fun, but by the end self preservation made me demand coffee and breakfast, or the lack thereof  was going to make me stumble and get run over by R2D2… so we left for breakfast in a quieter part of town.

    

Day three fell on St Patrick’s day. We began with a temple exploration where Kylie got to play with his new camera filters and I just played with my lenses. Kylie is fast outstripping me when it comes to camera accessories, I think he is going through his rich older man phase early. Since the house is on the horizon, riches will soon be gonesky.

I loved all the textures ect, but people watching tended to be the most interesting. It was a very busy temple, while we were there, they had at least three (maybe more) weddings. The wedding party would walk in, get married, pose for photos, move out. Next wedding. There was also an abundance of well dressed babies coming in for blessings, PLUS everyday people there for prayer. Despite the goings on, people still kept a respectful quiet and there was plenty of space for me to play with my camera. Taking more shots of people than I probably should.

After that we met Jamie and Christine in the Shinjuku(?) train station. They showed us a park where people in costumes hang out, (but not so many that day) we ate octopus balls for lunch. Then a cool shopping plaza/alley place I pretty much scouted for later shopping excursions.

Later we made our way to the St Patrick’s day parade. BOY was that another opportunity for people watching! Costumes, bright greens, shiny instruments, dancers, cute kids…  Since Jamie is in a cricket team sponsored by an irish pub they were in the parade and gave us a couple of flags so we could join in. I was skeptical on my ability to walk that far, because, as per usual when I have to walk lots on asphalt with camera bag, I had a sore back. We did bail, but stayed and watched and took… more photos. By this stage i was both happy and unhappy about lugging the camera around!

For dinner we went to a yummy sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt. We sat facing the chefs behind it, picking off the plates that appealed. Eel had to be the yummiest. Each plate had a chip in it (or something like – i assume) that kept the price of the item stored in it. You would then get your empty plates swiped by a swipey thing and your bill would appear at the counter for you to pay. Loved the novelty.

We THEN (yes i am tired from just writing it all… geeeze) headed up a large tower with a viewing area and galleries. Admired the view likened to legoland and went to two exhibitions. I have the brochures somewhere in the chaos that is my office… lets just say, I liked them both!

Typical early spring weather greeted us on this day. Wet and overcast. Starting the day by trying a very BAD canned HOT coffee (tasted of can, no surprise there, but we had to TRY at least) from a dispenser down the road we made our way to Ueno.

Where we explored a park, temples and went to an art gallery. Saw an exhibit on William Morris and his influence in different cultures, i liked! I also took Kylie to a flower arrangement exhibit. The poor boy was very patient. Our observation today was the umbrella appeared to be a required fashion accessory. For there was only  a mild, if non-existent, drizzle and umbrellas were everywhere, of all colours and patterns imaginable…

 

This park will look like a wonderland right now, we missed the blooming, but saw many trees on the verge of blossoming. Bit disappointed about that, not much i can do about that now!

This place was quite creepy, with crows squawking loudly in the background and everything being quite dark…
 

Day three was bright and sunny! A Temple, squid balls, St. Patrick’s day, a tower, shopping district and sushi. Stay tuned!

As it turns out my brain is a bit muddled (no surprise there) So my “day-one-that-is-actually-day-two” was the PACKED one…and here is the rest of the “what we did”

We explored a park and a shopping district and ate our first Tempura-in-Japan for lunch, nom nom nommy! I found Tokyo Hands, A BIG lifestyle store with crafts, home stuff, bikes ect. Eight stories all up.. i think. I didn’t shop though. Kept money in my purse until i got an idea of prices, even in Japan i need to feel like I am getting a good deal!

Cyclists were everywhere here, weaving in and out of pedestrians, without being abused. Some very cool bikes, old ones, new ones fabulous variety of commuter beauties.

In the evening we went to a concert for the Yoshida Brothers, who play the shamisen among other musicians on their instruments. They play classic tunes aswell as rock… it was very entertaining, mostly because i got to see the traditional Japanese music styles intermingled with more modern western stuff. The light show wasn’t bad either.

Here’s a vid so you can get an idea.

Have a great weekend everyone, i will try and blog, but might get waylaid..

I had a bit of spare time to catch up on the photos yesterday, i have uploaded what i managed to get through.

This batch (except the geisha) is pretty much day one in Japan, technically day two. The REAL day one I was extremely ill and tired after the journey. Food poisoning and no sleep meant i didn’t get out of bed.

I arrived their 6am, I did not sleep on the plane. I fully intended to explore this day! How little i know about long journeys, I imagined me tired, but bashing around Gotanda living off my excitement… ha ha maybe when i was, what 15? The fact i managed to get to the lovely light apartment still amazes me, I did, however, have help..

Christine (Kylie’s Brothers wife) picked me up, took me on the train out of Narita Airport (an hours fast train ride away) once we arrived at Shinagawa Station she put us in a cab (can you imagine my paranoia with my food poisoned condition when it came to the tidy shiny cab… oi!) I was so happy to arrive and see Kylie (he flew in from New Caledonia the night before).

The following morning after sleeping for a day and night we left our station in Gotanda and headed to Shibuya, we got out in one of the busiest crossings in Japan and walked to Shinjuku, where we found a park and a few department stores to explore. After that we headed back to have a YUMMY Japanese meal out at local restaurant close to Gotanda station. Nommy udon noodles and Sushimi. Awww i miss the fish!

First impressions in my jet lagged recovering state. Everywhere was immaculate and the cars were really shiny. On the trains, even when crowded, everyone is extremely good at giving you your personal space, by simply, not looking at you or talking loudly. Messages were displayed and spoken in both Japanese and English to turn cell phones onto vibrate and to “refrain from talking on the phone”. There is a distinct absence of loud conversations while on the train. After having this for a week and half, we saw two tourists on the train talking loudly in English to each other, I felt shocked and embarrassed. And absolutely terrified they would talk to me! O dear, to the introvert, this city is no problem.

There are few more photos in flickr. I am going to try and upload a few each day as i get through them. Do not be fooled by the lack of people, we were clever travelers and avoided some places in rush hour. Day two was PACKED so, stay tuned!