I wonder where that fish did go? A fish, a fish, a fishy oooh!

The next day, I left the hostel early to get down to the Tokyo Fish Market, the largest fish market in all Asia.  On the way there, I stopped by the Sony Building.  Their showcase displays had may gadgets of varying functionality.  Some were pretty useless, while others were pretty neat contraptions. A portable bike with a GPS attachment was pretty cool to look at.  I even considered buying a new cutting-edge digital camera, but it was tai gui le.

I got down to the fish market around 9AM, which was WAY too late to see the really interesting things like the fish auction.  Nonetheless, there were hordes of fishermen, workers, trucks and wagons, and of course, fish remains.  I got to see how the fishermen cleaned up after a day's work.

 The one word I can think of to describe the fish market is intense. Trucks would not stop.  Fishermen were arguing and demanding payment from their bosses.  People were trying to sell their fish to whoever passed by.  To be honest, if I had access to a kitchen in Tokyo, I would have bought a nice piece of fish.


Before leaving the area, I was approached by an old lady who asked me if I wanted to have some sashimi.  The lineup to this place was pretty long, but since it was only me, I skipped to the front immediately. It was the best sashimi I've ever had in my life.  There's no other way to explain it, but my sashimi don tasted like excellent.

 Headed to the Imperial Palace after that.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow me in because tours only went through early in the day.  Too bad for me.

After being rejected there, I moved my stuff from my hostel to a small and inexpensive ryokan.  It was in Asakusa, and was near the hostel.  It also was roughly the same price.

After that, I gunned over to a suburb outside of the city core.  Why did I do that??? To go to one of the best parts of my trip...the Ghibili Museum!!  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.  The only thing I'll say about it is that it is a magical place.  It's a small museum, but it was easily a highlight of my entire backpacking sojourn throughout Japan and South China.

At night, I went to the well known areas of Harajuku and Shibuya.  Huge amounts of people, although maybe not as crazy as I thought.  Maybe that's because I was coming to Japan from China, maybe because it was raining.  I dunno.  But I did have a good time walking around seeing all the fashionistas out in full force.

I ended my second day in Tokyo trying to get into an Irish pub to get myself a Guiness, but it was WAY too busy.  I settled for a hot shower and tea before bed.

Totoro selling tickets.

Shibuya!