Day 6 - Akihabara, Asakusa and Odaiba

This morning I set out to go and catch a Bunkaku show (Japanese puppets) and found out that the show ended yesterday and that there was not even Kabuki going on in the city for the rest of the time I`m here. Talk about disappointing. I wasn`t able to catch a sumo match either because it was in the finals and tickets were expensive and hard to come by. Oh well, next time :)

I took the subway over to Akihabara, the electronics district. Ended up in one of the largest department stores called Yodobashi wich sells EVERYTHING. Things like automatic toilet seats that lower the lid when you get up, heated toilet seats, tabletop dishwashers and an exerciser that is shaped like a saddle and moves like a horse that is supposed to make you lose weight as you ride it! Just outside we ended up in an arcade and Irene and posed for photos in a photobooth that has different scenes and allows you to draw on them before they get printed out. They were really quite funny. Stereotype fulfilled!

Asakusa was the next desination. This is apparently the tourist area of Tokyo where the Sensoji shrine is located. It was here I experienced takoyaki which are round deep fried balls of batter filled with octopus. I definitely recommend them :). The shrine was beautiful and I learned that you are supposed to make an offering about 5 yen (because in Japanese 5 rhymes with lucky), clap twice, say your prayer and then bow.

Also in this area are the stores that sell restaurant supplies. There were quite a few stores that only sold plastic food. This was incredible. The food looked so real. It was also really expensive, about 2100￥ ($21) for a plastic piece of sushi because they are all made by hand and considered art. The dishes in this area were beautiful. If I was coming directly home I would have totally pimped out my kitchen.

Next stop was Odaiba. It`s located on the waterfront and is considered date central by the locals. It was hilarious. There were so many "couple" things to do here. There was an entire floor in the mall devoted to games that are to be played by two people like tests of strength, trust, memory etc. everything you need to size someone up! Picture those crazy Japanese game shows but with couples.

The view from here is amazing. You can see the rainbow bridge and the small statue of liberty that was given to Japan by France sometime ago. Its much smaller than the one in New York.

To continue with the long day we headed to Shibuya station to people watch. There is a Starbucks right on the corner of the intersection which is prime real estate for people watching. From this height you definitely get a feel of what a large city Tokyo is and how many people are in it. To watch the mass of people run to and from the subway station made it finally set in that I`m really here in Tokyo. There was so much going on in that intersection such as a tourist getting his friend to film him doing a cartwheel in the middle of the intersection and a large Japanese man dressed in spandex and cape pretending to be superman.

The night ended with dinner at a small restaurant that served tsukamen (dry noodles that are dipped into a thick soup)"fast food" Japanese style which consists of going to a machine and purchasing tickets for what you want to eat and giving them to the server. I ended up getting a spinach and tomato lobster bisque with 230 g of noodles for about $7.50. It was incredible. I love this city and all its food!