Tokyo

From the moment I walked into the airport in Tokyo I knew that I would be in for an adventure. The signs were not subtitled in English, my phone didn't get reception and no one really spoke English.

But, somehow I managed through hand signs and pointing at pictures and arrived at the hotel. When I got there I was exhausted. I had been up since 3 AM California time and it was now about 4 AM California time. The hotel was spectacular. I was so happy to see that it was so nice because I was so exhausted that I needed to have a great place to relax.

I did not do much that evening. I had dinner in the hotel snapped a few quick photos as I walked around inside and headed for bed. I got up early the next morning (about 4 AM) and headed over to the Tokyo fish market. The fish market is the largest in the world. It was amazing. I got there a little before they officially opened up so I was able to see a lot of the setting up. Now if I thought that no one spoke English at the international airport you can imagine what it felt like to be in the middle of the Japanese fish market. It was total incomunication. Most of the people that are there are locals who go to buy seafood for their family meals or chefs who are out buying for the days sales. I had a few funny conversations with a couple of the vendors but we both left the conversation smiling and not knowing what in the world had been said. I bought a few things and then headed over to the downtown shopping district.

Well, I should not have been too surprised that everything as closed. It was about 6 AM and I decided to look for a coffee shop and sit and relax for a bit. I saw a few of them but they were not open and the signs said they would open at 10. I walked around the area for a bit and then decided to go to the Imperial palace which was surrounded by a park. I had a difficult time getting there because the road signs are all in Japanese and I really did not know what way was north.

After an hour of walking in circles I finally found it. I had been taking pictures along the way. The area was pretty safe. It was in the middle of town and it was about 7AM and the sun was fully out. I was taking a couple pictures and then I heard a Japanese man talking to me. I turned and tried to listen closely but I could not make anything out. I continued walking and he continued talking. As I walked further away from him his voice got a little louder. I could not tell if he was mad or if he was warning me about something. Honestly at that moment I did not really care and I hailed a cab jumped inside and left the area. I went back to the shopping area I was in in hopes that something would be open. I ran into an American couple and they asked me if I knew where Starbucks was. I did not so we asked a few of the passerbys. No one knew where it was at and they were all pointing in different directions. We gave up and I walked with them in the search for a Starbucks (since that was the only thing open at 730AM).

The rest of the journey in Tokyo was smoother. The stores finally opened up I had a nice chat at Starbucks with the American couple that I met and later on met a nice Japanese girl who spoke great English and she helped me with a little shopping that I needed to do before I headed off to Singapore.



View of the rainbow Bridge






Items at Fish Market



Eating Ramen at the Fish Market



Imperial Palace



Ginza Shopping area (where I spent hours walking around)


View from my hotel room window



View #2 from my hotel window


Hotel lobby