Day Three, Tokyo: Paging Dr. Scholls

My prediction for the trip should have been the same one Clubber Lang had for his second fight against Rocky Balboa in Rocky III: PAIN! It's 11:50 p.m. local time.

I may have spoken too soon about adjusting to time as the result of waking up at 4 a.m. So what do you do when that happens? You go back to the fish market.

So Diamond and I got up and out to see more. This time we went to the actual market that reminded me of the produce market in downtown Los Angeles where I spent three of my summers working for my brother-in-law. There were just rows and rows of seafood with buyers loading up carts. We had to watch out for moving gas carts as well as hand ones.

As we walked around, we found the fish auction. Big giant fish that I think was tuna being auctioned to bidders in hats with numbers on them.

After walking out we were looking for something to eat. Knowing Diamond, I knew he wanted fish, and sushi to be exact. So, to be fair I decided to have some. I bought this rice ball that had fish in it. I don’t know what kind, but I knew it did. We took our food back to the hotel room and after a while of thinking it over, I bit in to the fish center. I don’t care for the taste of fish and still don’t. So I ate as quickly as I could.

… We rested then got ready for the Imperial Palace. We took a taxi since we were sore from the walking we did the day before. It may have been one of the best investments we made that day.

Now we didn’t have reservations to get into the palace, but we were still able to walk on the outside and the East Gardens. It is a peaceful place and just wide open spaces. After spending the first day and a half in cramped areas, we saw nothing but just room and grass which was a nice change.

It was also at this point where pain was starting to set in. After walking pretty much nonstop, we were starting to feel pain in our feet. I was also getting it in my back while Diamond had it more on his legs. But we moved through with so much to do.

… After two days of seeing current culture we took a look back at somewhat current culture at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art nearby. Some of the art was beautiful and interesting. There was a painting of Australian and British POWs resting while doing work with Japanese solider nearby.

… Our next stop was the Akihabara/Ueno area and we had a late lunch. For those that think Tokyo is an expensive city, it’s not really that bad. Well it’s not bad if you ramen. So far we’ve been averaging about 1000 yen, about $10, a meal and the ramen bowl I had for lunch was only 210.

Our only expenses as been food and transportation. I was estimating 10,000 yen a day but so far that seems way too much.

While in Ueno, I found one of the things I was looking for, a Mister Donut. It was by accident too. We were walking when I looked up and saw it there. It was a nice surprise and a very good donut.

… We had one more stop and that was Roppongi. It was a long trip and it was much needed since we were getting physically tired. I had noticed Diamond limping before he did. Moving after taking a break is a real struggle since it takes effort to get started.

When we arrived at Roppongi and got moving again, we looked for a place to eat and were at Roppongi Hills. Trying to find something to eat was a bit of a struggle. The first place we looked at was not open yet. Diamond found a sushi place with food on a conveyor belt and I didn’t want to stand in his way.

We got there and sat in the corner. I’m still not easy with eating raw fish, even after what I had earlier in the day. We tried to get something that I thought I would like, like salmon and tuna. Those plates came around and I wanted Diamond to go first with salmon. It might not have been the smartest move since there was wasabi in it and he was not expecting it. So he had a reaction to it which didn’t put me at ease since I’ve never had wasabi either.

I decided to do it and tried to power through the whole thing, but couldn’t. Then the wasabi hit me. I made it more of a disaster than it should have been in hindsight. Yes, I’ll admit sushi isn’t bad, but at the same time, I’m not going out for it either.

The cool thing about that place was that when he had the plates stacked, he was able to put a handheld computer over the plates that immediately calculated the price. It impressed us at least.

After getting out, we walked very painfully to the Tokyo Tower. After walking, resting and repeating that cycle several times we got there. Once we got there we walked into the cafeteria and I saw one of the greatest fusions of food: chocolate and waffles. Unfortunately, it was called Pinkdot and Diamond asked if that was the gayest thing I’ve ever done? Well I couldn’t help the name of the place honestly and I do love waffles and chocolate.

… Right now we are tired and sore. We hope we can feel better, but we’ll see.

Here are some pictures