Spring time Sunday in Tokyo - Sunday April 12th

It’s Sunday. 

Our last full day in Tokyo, and we therefore need to look at the list of “must do’s” and decide which ones we will honour.

We decide that the gardens of the Imperial Palace, with their cherry blossoms, and the Akihabara area, with its …… stuff, are enough for one day and as it’s a gorgeous spring day we will walk it.

But wait a minute, the Tsukiji Fish Market is open!

Woo hoo, fish for breakfast!

It’s only one block away and it’s early so off we go.
We went past the Sushikanzai place we ate at last night,

and the little fat bloke was outside welcoming all sushi lovers in at a very early hour.

  

The feel is more like Queen Victoria Market (that’s a very Melburnian reference) on  Sunday. The “real” traders are closed but all the street food stalls are in full swing.

The crowds are even larger than they are during the week.

I had no idea what idea what I wanted but I knew there would be an abundance of choice.

Then, there it was! A dim sim stall that had “dimmi’s” that looked and smelt just like the South Melbourne Market ones.

This last sentence requires and deserves an explanation for anyone that doesn’t live in Melbourne.

Our "Dim Sim" is an adaptation of dim sum and the South Melbourne Market dim sim  is very special adaptation again.

The stall from which the famous South Melbourne Market Dim Sims are sold from started in the ’70’s, if my memory serves me well, by an enterprising Chinese fellow that had a small take-away in the area but wanted to do some business outside of the normal take-away trading times.

Saturday mornings eventually saw long queues in front of his one metre wide stall buying up his steamed, pastry wrapped, delicious,10cm diameter ball of pork goodness, with a splash of soy sauce.    

They were, and still are, good. Very, very good. So much so that I used to send my mate in Queensland, and ex-Melburnian, a bag of 50 or so frozen dim sims on a regular basis.

BUT, I must tell you that the Tsukiji Market ones are better. Yes, they are much softer to eat. Almost like a velvety texture.

It’s very hard to describe but unforgettable once you have experienced it. 

At roughly $2 each makes them an absolute bargain and two will sustain you all day.

Plus, you can get a can of beer from the same lady vendor.

The Japanese seem to drink a lot of beer and they start early, and young, and the women do not “drag their heels” when it comes to chugging down a few, either.

A very civilised society indeed.

We also bought a small bag of battered and deep fried burdock. From the blurb on the stall it’s a very ancient Japanese root vegetable.

It tasted like the Scotch thistle stalks my Dad used to enjoy when I was a kid. 

I didn’t like it much then, but my taste buds have matured since and I didn’t mind this stuff.

With belly’s full of dim sims, burdock and beer we set off for the Imperial Gardens.

The 40 minute walk across the Chuo and Ginza districts of Tokyo on a Sunday morning gave us another view of this town.

Little pop-up markets, in the large building entrances, small squares off main street with cafes and restaurants.

Sort of Melbourne’s CBD Collins Street meets Paris’ Rue de Clichy. Nice. Laid back.

We soaked up the fresh air and sunshine and eventually arrived at the eastern edge of the gardens. They cover a lot of ground and every little bit as manicured.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and there were people everywhere.

It is an area that attracts all sorts of people. Tourists, it goes without saying, but many many locals that are personal space poor, given how small and expensive apartments are in central Tokyo.

Tiz was rapt in all the blossoms and took loads of pics. My reaction, given that I don’t have the “I love flowers” gene, was more “Meh!”.

The walk in the park and observing people out and about and having fun was enjoyable nonetheless.

It was getting on and we had a 40 minute walk ahead of us to get to Akihabara, so off we went. 

Their building site offices look like condo's,

 and cleaner and more stylish than most!

Walking the inner ‘burbs of Tokyo revealed a lot of how these ancient communities live. it’s a meld of communal looking after each other with a fair dose of getting on with "the business”. It seems to work for them, but they have had many centuries to hone it to this point.

Walking, walking, walking ….Whooooooa! 

AKIHABARA!!!

The shots above don't relay the size and vibe of the place.

It's big, bold, colourful, crowded and intense.

This is a bit like the "Jesus loves you!" bikes we have around Melbourne,

 but in this case the message is a little more commercial and LOUD

This is my attempt at a panorama shot to try and show the place.

Tiz looking for a really good selfie stick for me.

I will probably use it to poke selfie stick users in the eye with it 

or maybe jam it in the spokes of their fixies.

(If you're not from Melbourne - fixie reference - and/or 

don't know of my complete disdain for selfie stick users 

please ignore the above with my apologies.)

We had come around the corner from a little alleyway to be met by a HUGE street, closed off to traffic, full of people and with an overwhelming amount of lit up anime and electronics shops. When this crew do something big, they do it BIG. 

Although we did not intend to buy anything we decide we should do a walk up and down to at least take a bit of a look.

It reminded me of what Hong Kong was like 30 years ago.

Bright lights, multi level stores selling one line of product but with every choice, but with a couple of major differences. 

First difference - Japanese service.

Second difference - the majority of shoppers are Chinese, and they look like they’re doing the last, or maybe the very first, shopping trip of their lives. 

They don’t just buy a lot. They buy a lot of the same stuff. 

It seems to contradict what we seem to think about where stuff is manufactured and how much stuff costs in different countries.

Tiz and I contributed to the bottom line of a couple of stores. 

I bought a Logicool bluetooth mouse, because I can’t get the hang of this, or any, damn track pad and a USB hub, because I couldn’t remember if I had packed one. I had.

Tiz, the big spender of the pair needed some lipstick. Not some lipstick. One lipstick.

Who of you out there reading this has to cajole their partners into “spend a little more on yourself, ‘cos you deserve it.”? 

Well, I do, and often.

We found a shop where it was quiet and she was served by a couple of gorgeous young assistants who also sold her some skin care ….. stuff …. yes, that’s as close as I can get without asking her.

I do know that Tiz was rapt with the service she got, especially since she didn’t have to wait in a queue ten deep of women buying fifty of something, a hundred of something else, twenty of another thing and yelling at 75db in Chinese.  

There's quite a bit of this too.

Those from across the sea love it.

Go figure.

And here's a panorama shot of Ginza from the middle of the main intersection, 

as we headed home.

We booked our tickets for tomorrow’s trip to Takayama at the Tokyo Station on the way back and then stopped off for last feed of ramen from Ipuddo. 

And here's a panorama shot of Ginza from the middle of the main intersection, as we headed home.

We had to wait to get in, which goes entirely against my normal ‘I’m not bloody queuing up for bloody food!” stubborn mentality, but this is different. 

It was only 3-4 minutes and their gyoza and ramen are worth queuing up for ….. for a few minutes.

We packed, which predictably gets easier with every attempt, and got to bed early.