Tsukiji Fish Market, around Tokyo station, GinzaUp in the morning, jet-lagged so really early, first destination the traditional Tsukiji Tour. Tasty sushi for breakfast at a place called Ryu, just across the way from the Fish Market, and down the street from the nearby Namiyoke Inari
shrine, where I got that sticker
I wanted.
(Not a good reproduction because
the scanner doesn't handle metal flake very well.)
Back to the Green Hotel for checkout; then, over
to the TIC. A visit to the Tourist Information
Center in Yurakucho is another traditional first-day
activity - gotta know what's happening. (It's
moved a block north from its old storefront location
to the lower level of the new, glassy Tokyo
International Forum, which is like a convention
center.) Then some bookstore browsing in nearby
Kanda - was thinking about lunch at this little
eel place, until I realized what was sloshing
around in the unattended bucket out front - must've
been a recent delivery, I realize the freshness
should've been a plus, but that seemed a little
too fresh, made me somewhat queasy.
Eventually checked in at the
Toko
Hotel, right next to Gotanda station
on the Yamanote - this would be my trip's most
expensive lodgings, about $95 a night. They gave
me a high-up room, on the 13th floor - that's
the one superstitious Americans skip, right?
In such plush accommodations one might expect a little more than the basic business hotel furnishings, and behold: the toilet had one of those control panels wimpy correspondents on expense accounts get into such a state about. (I've read several of these: pressing button expecting a flush, shrieks of dismay, leaping off the seat as a jet of water arcs through the air, embarrassment of wet clothes, etc.) I had no difficulties mastering the mechanism, and must report that it's a supreme pleasure, this post-movement ability to direct a powerful, warm, pencil-thin stream of water directly into your anus. As they say, "Leave it to Tojo!" (Actually, Toto - that firm's name was prominent on a lot of the bathroom fixtures.) After watching some television, a bit of some samurai drama, and then transfixed, an episode of the new Gundam series; rode the Yamanote line up to Takadanobaba. Heard there were things of interest around this station, but my information must've been out-of-date, couldn't find them. Had a sashimi dinner, which contained my first serving of a whole raw shrimp - how to do this!? I recall from a chopstick book that the ultimate hashi challenge is to peel a shrimp; but where to begin? Eventually I just picked the thing up, dexterously grasping both head and tail between thumb and fingers - then I could dunk the meaty middle into the soy and bite it off. In later experimentation with whole shrimp I learned the head could be pulled off even more easily than the tail.
Nearby, a video arcade caught my interest, for the
machine right at the front. I watched its idle
displays cycle for a bit, and then a seasoned
player sat down. Next: Shitamachi |
Back home the "driving" machine is a mainstay of the
arcade; here in Japan, where there's so many trains,
