Posted by kc on Nov 20th, 2007
Along the Sumida river near Tokyo Bay lies the district of Tsukiji, home of the largest fish market in the world. The Tsukiji fish market handles over 2,000 tons of seafood daily. I’ve been told you have to get there around 6:30am to see the wholesale tuna auctions. I was fighting jet-lag and exhaustion from over-exuberant sightseeing, so I didn’t make it there until close to 8am. As such, I missed most of the auction action, but did have fun exploring the surrounding markets.
Some of the warehouse-alley streets had tiny restaurants nestled within them. I picked a small back-alley sushi place based on the pictures of the food, the price, and the fact that it was nearly full of Japanese people who all looked happy to be there. 
Thankfully, the menus had pictures on them. I chose a sushi-assortment and added a couple of extra pieces at the end that I really liked through a series of pointing and gestures to/from the sushi chef behind the bar.
The sushi was amazing – obviously the freshest sushi I’ve ever had.
Posted by kc on Nov 19th, 2007
Akihabara, or Akiba for short, is the well known electronics shopping district of Tokyo. Akiba’s streets are lined with computer stores, electronics stores, DVD & music stores, and comic book stores. It’s truly a geek’s paradise. Where else can you find vendors putting milk crate “discount bins” on the sidewalk with such treasures as USB hard drives and AGP video cards?
The pictures below are actually from two trips to Akiba, I went back in search of Playstation 3 “Dualshock 3″ controllers for some friends.
Posted by kc on Nov 19th, 2007
After visiting Asakusa, I walked to Ueno to see Ueno Park. Ueno Park is a very expansive park containing a zoo, multiple museums, and shrines and temples. I wasn’t in the mood to wander through museums or a zoo, but the idea of seeing the park itself appealed to me. Even on a Monday the park was alive with visitors and even some musicians.
Posted by kc on Nov 19th, 2007
Northeast Tokyo holds the ward of Asakusa. This area has many temples and religious sites, the most famous being the SensÅ-ji Temple, which was build in 645 AD and is Tokyo’s oldest temple.
While wandering up the Akasuka shopping area towards the SensÅ-ji Temple I was able to sample lots of interesting local treats, including some really neat little pastries that were like half-cookie, half-donut. An older man was operating a large machine producing these treats, which appeared to be wildly popular with the visitors to the area. They were quite good warm and fresh off the machine.
The SensÅ-ji Temple itself is magnificent. It is surrounded in ritual and you get the feeling instantly that the huge souvenir market is an integral part of the temple. Just outside the steps of the temple sits a huge cauldron with incense burning. Visitors pause by the incense and waft the smoke onto themselves before heading up towards the temple.
After visiting the temple I wandered through the commercial and residential areas of Asakusa towards Ueno Park. More descriptions can be found in the pictures:
