Ginza and Tsukiji

Me and Hachiko the Dog

.

The wine bar "PEE."

.

Us and the street performers at the garden

.

Me climbing a mountain

.

Me on a bridge in the garden

.

Me high-fiving Godzilla

.

ME AND SPIDERMAN!

Today I went to Ginza and Tsukiji with some of the exchange students. It was tons of fun! Although a lot of the placed we tried to find we couldn't find or had something off about it, we had a good time.

When we arrived in Ginza, we first went into the Sony building. Here, they have all the up-to-date technology that is yet to be released. It was pretty cool looking at all the shiny gadgets! Also, Spiderman 3 is just coming out in Japan, so there were a lot of spiderman displays! My guidebook said there was a free virtual reality room, but we found out it didn't exist. We were a little disappointed...but then we thought, well, next is the Godzilla statue, and that should be MONUMENTAL!

However, it turns out Gozilla is far from life size. In fact, WE were bigger than Godzilla! Still, it was pretty cool seeing THE Japanese icon on display in the middle of the city. It couldn't stop us from laughing as we turned the corner, half expecting a 10 story version of Godzilla. I guess I should have taken the hint when I asked Mama about it--she didn't even know it existed! She had a good laugh when I showed her the pictures, though.

Next, we went to a nearby park, which was just like any ordinary part. Only there was some kind of train event going on....There was an aweful singer, and a bunch of boothes...

Next, we headed South to find one of the few Shrines left in ginza because of the fires, earthquakes, and modernization this part of Tokyo was involved in. My guidebook said it was hard to find, but we must have circled the block twice and saw nothing. I asked some Japanese businesswomen, and they pointed us the way, but we had no idea. So, we skipped it and walked further south to Tsukiji.

Since I had the guidebook, I was the navigator. While we were going the right way, my calculations were a little bit off...we were much further East than I thought we were! When we tried to visit the fish market (the biggest Asian fish market in the world) we came under the realization that it was Sunday and of course it was closed. This saddened us, but we headed to our next destination, the Hama-rikyu Gardens (which belonged to the Tokugawa Shogunate!!!!)

Although it cost about $3.00 to get in, it was worth it. We saw sites like Tokugawa Ienobu's 300 year-old pine tree, Tokugawa Ieyasu's port for when he needed to go somewhere by boat, Tokyogawa Hidetada's poppy field (we all know what THIS was for...he wasn't a worthless shogun for no reason...), and a shrine to appease all the ducks they hunted in the park. It was very pretty, and had a cute little tea house where they serve tea and cake. It seems this park was full of stray kitties, but none of them would come and see me!! Also, the park had some "mountains"......which actually were just glorified hills. The picture above shows me climbing this so called "mountain." :)

As we were exiting the park, there was a street performance type thing near the exit. They had Japanese umbrellas, and on top of them they juggled balls, tea cups, and rice boxes, which was really cool. They then balanced a glass of water on a long pole, which looked nearly impossible!!! It was very cool, and as you can see above, we got our pictures taken with them! They seemed excited that us foreigners had taken such and interest in their show.

After this park, we headed to Shibuya for lunch. There we visited Hachiko the Dog statue (2nd time for me!). For those of you who don't know the story, Hachiko was a dog that walked his master to the station waited, and walked him back home every day. However, one day, Hachiko's master died at work and never came home. So Hachiko waited, waited, and waited for 10 years before he died. Hachiko is kind of a Japanese hero! Anyways, nowadays this statue is used as a meeting point. And who knew Hachiko was the same size as Godzilla?

We then had lunch and walked around a bit as it started getting dark. We all laughed when we saw a bar called "P.E.E." Of course it is an anagram for something else, and they probably don't know the English meaning. Still, we won't be going there anytime soon....

Next weekend, tentatively we will go to Odaiba. Very exciting!

Also, if you haven't noticed, I seem to be making a peace sign in every picture I take! If I don't make the peace sign in a picture, it feels wrong! Japan is really rubbing off on me.....

Anyways, that's about all. See you all next time!!!