Shinjuku-ku, Japan

We are picked up today at 9 by our guide for a world wind Tokyo experience. We start with the biggest fish market in Japan called the “Tsukiji Fish Market”. I’ve never had the opportunity to experience something like this. It’s shear size alone is fascinating! The first fish we saw was the tuna; it comes frozen- it is mostly the belly of the tuna and the fish butcher cuts it in 4 parts with an electric saw! There is at least 300 different kinds of fish here , and it goes on aisle after aisle. Japanese are huge consumers of fish. Here is the interesting part; there is very little smell because it’s all fresh and it’s incredibly clean. We so loved watching the artisans cutting squid, eel or octopus. We then drove to Sonao-ji temple but we had to walk through the Nakamise Market which had lots of souvenirs shops, many pastry shops, some quaint restaurants . This temple was destroyed in WWII and it is said that the old buddha is hidden in the new construction. It is rumored to be good luck! Kate And I tried the fortune game again of shaking a box and have one numbered fortune coming through. The strange part we both had the exact same fortune as the Taoist temple. Hers not so good, mine was the exact same as at the Macau Taoist temple! We drive through the Ginza district which has high end shops. We all split up for lunch. Cat and I choose Italian. For 10$ a piece we have a salad , tea and spaghetti amatricciana. Excellent. After lunch we continued to the Meiji Shrine which is like their Central Park in Tokyo center .it feels like it’s enchanted, it almost looks like a rain forest, it’s so green. We continued in to Takeshita Street. That reminds me of what Melrose used to be; whimsical shops, trendy young people, owl and Bengal cats to pet( I really wished we had time to experience this!) unusual desserts and people wall to wall! Lastly we walked through the Omotasando district which make our Rodeo Dr look pathetic ! This has at least a mile of designers shops and lots of cool crossing streets with low rise building that houses La Pera, Valentino , Miu Miu and too many to name. The cross streets’ architecture was much more interesting and less intimidating. At the end of the day, Eduardo rented an 8 people Toyota van. We looked at it and wondered how the 6 of us would fit in with all our luggages! We parked it for the night , kind of far away in an underground parking, hoping we won’t be towed since all signs are in Japanese. Then Eduardo, Kat and I went for late sushi at a restaurant near us! And it’s another great day!