We are keeping busy here, partly because it’s so easy to travel efficiently around the city by Metro, bus, or walking. Yesterday, instead of taking the Metro, we (sort of accidentally) opted for the bus. This gave us the opportunity to see more of the city than we would have on the metro. We use our Suica (transit pass) as we board, and the screen at the front of the bus tells us the route in both Japanese and English.
Our destination was across the river to see the newer Toyosu Fish Market. It’s a huge complex…mostly a wholesale warehouse. There is a small museum and a place where people can view the tuna auction – though that would require an early morning (5:30-6:30 a.m.) visit.
There are some restaurants in the complex and we ate a delicious sushi lunch there at a quiet little restaurant. The sign outside said that they had been operating for 50 years.
Back in the city center, we walked around the Kokyo Galen National Garden Plaza in front of the Imperial Palace. We learned that there are around 2000 Japanese Black Pine Trees in the gardens and they are spectacular to see.
On the way back to our hotel, we walked through Hibuya Park where there was a Fall Gardening Show. We watched this gentleman create an arrangement using tiny forceps to add small succulents to his arrangement. Creative and quite amazing!
Arrangements look like this:
We got some good ideas for clever fall container plantings.
People in Tokyo are very well dressed and shop windows are fun to see.
Dinner last night was at a funky little izakaya (Japanese style tapas) restaurant with tiny portions. It was more expensive than it should have been. The restaurant was atmospheric and colorful which counted for something.
After dinner, we were still hungry, so we went to a nearby Family Mart for fried chicken squares (Famichiki) to complete our meal. We’ve read that there is a sort of cult following for kombini store (AKA convenience store) fried chicken. Each convenience store brand has its own contender.
The weather is pleasant. We have just a couple more days of adventure here, but we’ve only scratched the surface!