Tokyo Part Ni

For those of you wondering what Ichi and Ni are, it means One and Two. There are several different counting systems used in Japan and I'm not sure that I'm using the correct one, but you get the idea. We went to Tokyo again, this time with a Japanese friend who showed us around town. It was great having someone to help us with the language and since she is trying to learn English we can help her also. Sometimes communication turns into a game of charades, but for the most part we are all able to communicate well!

We started the day by heading to the Tsukiji fish market, a very famous fish market in Japan. If you arrive between 4:30am and 6:30am you can witness the fish auction which is supposed to be very entertaining. For awhile this was closed to tourists because of poor manners, but now it has reopened. We did not arrive early enough to see the auction but there are many restaurants in the area that serve the fish they have purchased at the auction and this is supposed to be the freshest sushi in the world. Since we missed the auction, there was really nothing to take pictures of but we are planning to try to make it to the auction when we stay overnight in Tokyo in April for the Submarine Ball.

The next stop was Tokyo Tower, which is a slightly taller replica of the Eiffel Tower. We paid the admission to go to the 150 meter deck of the tower but it was pretty hazy so we did not pay the extra admission to go to the higher deck. Reiko, our Japanese friend, is afraid of heights but still appeared to be having a good time. There is a glass window facing down toward the ground that you can look through and stand on and see all the little people and cars below!

We went outside to get crepes when we came back down from the tower and saw a monkey doing tricks outside. We took some pictures and thought to ourselves that it is a good thing they don't have PETA in Japan.

On the first floor of the tower is a small aquarium and they were having a discount for foreigners so we decided to check that out. There were a lot of eel and piranhas and at the end was a peaceful coy pond with a fountain.

At this point it had been a long day so we all decided to pass on the Tokyo night life and head back to eat dinner and watch movies in Yokohama. Ed took some cool pictures while we waited for the train to go home.