Primus Family "Taste of Asia" Tour: July 4: Tokyo Fish Market, Imperial Gardens, Shopping

We are so grateful to have our guide, Izumi. She knows the subway like the back of her hand, and has navigated us through several transfers to get us all over the city today.

Today we started out at the Tokyo Fish Market. There is a very large wholesale market, which you can walk through as long as you stay out of the way and do not touch anything. Here we saw every kind of fish you can imagine, and some you can't. Tuna is a mainstay in Japan, and there were many different varieties. Then of course there were eel, octopus, shrimp - you name it, they had it. It was actually a pretty dangerous place, because the floor was slippery in places, and also there were dozens of guys driving around on carts that were about the size of forklifts, but carried their cargo in back. Most of these guys were young, had a cigarette hanging from their mouth, and some sort of scarf on their head. I took to calling them Samurai Forklift. I hope someone else got a picture of them for you.

The other part of the fish market was the retail market. Here the public could buy fish, produce, and just about anything but a bottle of water. (I finally found one in a vending machine.) Many vendors had samples out to try, so it was sort of like our own farmers' market. I especially liked the "Japanese Omelet" which is an egg dish that is seasoned and baked. The consistency is more rigid than our omelets. They're sold in these 1 inch high bricks that measure about 4" X 6".

The sushi restaurants in this area are very good and very popular. It was about 10 in the morning, and some of them already had lines of 50+ people.

After the fish market, we visited the Imperial Gardens. These were from the Edo period, which was the era of the Shoguns. If you read the book Shogun, the Edo period is the 200 years that came just after that time. The gardens were really beautiful, with pathways, pine trees, ad a tea house in the middle of a lake, where we enjoyed tea. Baxter has come to really enjoy tea over here, and will often choose it over soda.

In the afternoon, we took a computerized train across the bay to a man-made island called Odaida (sp).
This is a modern area with several shopping malls and activities. We had another great Japanese lunch, then split up to explore on our own. The boys left the first mall (a more traditional mall), and entered a second one, which was far better. Imagine the Dollar Tree, Chuck-e-Cheese, Claire's, and a video arcade all under one roof. The best store was called "Lucky Box". For 300 yen (about $3.00) you pick a box. Usually, you get some cheap little tchotchke, but occasionally there might be an ipod, etc. The kids LOVED this store. In fact, they loved this whole area so much that we stayed for an additional hour, missing out on the BORING old town Tokyo.

As it was the 4th of July, we had hamburgers like everyone else in the US. Ours were at Burger King.