Dec. 20, 2008

Fish Market: Tskuiji
I woke up at 5:00 this morning and laid in bed for a half hour knowing it was too early to wake up. At 7 am, Philip and I went to the fish market. The odour of the fish filled the subway corridors. This market was hectic -there were automatic carts everywhere, fishermen scaling fish, trucks getting loaded with shipments and people holding on to their coolers ready to buy fresh seafood. Sadly, we didn't buy fish there because we have no place to cook it.



















Temple
We ran into a small temple where I heard a saw a lot of tourists. I actually thought they were local people, until they spoke Chinese and Korean.











Ginza
This was a well-known shopping district like the Champs-Elysee in Paris. It wasn't that interesting though, especially when you don't have money to spend.

Imperial Garden
Philip thought this place was boring because all the plants were dead. He expected gardens to be beautiful but because of the time of season the the trees were naked and the grass was as yellow as a Golden Retriever (type of dog). For those of you who are wondering why I put type of dog, it's because there are people reading this blog who's first language isn't English. Going back on topic...the Imperial Garden is owned by the Caesar (Tenno in Japanese) of Japan. I just found out that had a Caesar today, shows how much I know about Japan.


Municipal Government Building
Got a nice view of the city from the top of this building. The escalator was weird. It showed floors 1,2 and 49. Where were the other levels?
Anyways, it's funny because there are elevator attendants. So they push the buttons for you and greet you as you go in and out of the elevator. I don't see a real point in that, but then again there are many people doing seemingless useless jobs. There was one guy at the airport who straightened out the baggages from the luggage pick-up area. There were two police man diverting traffic from a small road. We saw four people working in a small food buggy. When I exchanged my money they made me fill out a form where I had to write my full name and where I was staying. They needed a total of two people to exchange my money. As well, when Philip bought a souvenir for his sister it got really awkward. They sat him down at a table as if we were part of the mafia. There was lady who unwrapped each item to show us that it was in good condition. One lady took the money from Philip then ran behind the piller where the cash register was. We heard some rustling, then we were heard footsteps. Another lady comes back with his change, then I start to wonder where the first lady went. Anyway, we walked away as she bowed and I didn't know whether I shoud bow or not...awkward!

Roppongi Hill
I learned a new word today. "Gentrification." Once a dark and deteriorated neighbourhood, Roppongi hills was transformed into an upscale urban shopping site. The shopping mall they had was pretty fancy and had upscale stores. I didn't even bother looking at them because I knew the prices were crazy. We actually ran out of things today because we're not big shopping fans.

Ikebukuro Art Space
In the lonelyplanet guide, it tells us to check out this art space where they hold concerts and have a very long escalator. People were pouring out of the escalator like milk flowing out of a plastic bag. It was kind of randomw. We went up to the 6th floorwith the elevator and then just went down the elevator.













Indian Food
For dinner we had Indian food - salad, naan, roti and chicken curry. We were the only ones in the restaurant. It seemed pretty deserted, nevertheless I enjoyed it. The cook came and talked to us. We found out he was from Chennai. I asked him if he liked it here and he said he did but and admitted that the language barrier was a pretty big problem for him. I can see how it could be. If it weren't for the English map, it would be 10 times harder getting around the city. Today I was even asked a question in Japanese and I didn't have a clue what the cashier wanted from me. Her colleague picked up that I didn't understand the Japanese. It turns at she was just asking me if I wanted my noodles in a bowl that was small, medium, or large. Aiyaiyai...