Tsukiji, Imperial Palace, and more

It was our first full day in Japan, and Peter and I were ill with Tokyo fever. Our sightseeing only stopped for meals, quick vending machine drink stops, and bathroom breaks. Later I looked at where we had walked on a map and guesstimated that we easily walked at least 15 miles.

By 715am we were on our way to Tsukiji fish market, the largest wholesale fish/seafood market in the world. It was interesting to look around, but mainly I wanted to go here for the highly acclaimed sushi from the nearby restaurants.



Octopus!


This guy is about to slice up a tuna. One thing that surprised me about the market was the lack of fish smell. The smell is very faint, which I assume is due to the freshness of the sea life.



How do you explain a ripe grapefruit from my parents' tree or an Indiana tomato straight off the vine to those who have only had the store bought versions? Impossible. This is why I can not explain how this sushi compared to all other sushi I had previously eaten in the US.

After stuffing ourselves at the fish market we walked through Ginza, a high end shopping district, on our way to the Imperial Palace gardens.


There were still a few cherry blossoms up. :)




View of a park around the Imperial Palace.



What you can see of the Imperial Palace (it's closed to the public except for a couple days out of the year).

We then went in search for anime, which isn't hard to find in Tokyo. Things we saw along the way:

Lunch at a Thai restaurant


International Forum - huge exhibition and concert hall


Electronics district (lots of anime, too)


No idea the name of this shrine or where it was - but we where there, and afterward we got lost trying to get to the metro.