Japan with my Sister Part 2

What time is it? In Tokyo, it's always time to eat!This city has great food. This week's Theme Thursday is clock. (Stretching it here a bit but there are two clocks in the photos presented here, try to find them!) Click here for part one.

Day 1
Ueno, a ward in central Tokyo, has a huge train and subway station. It's so big it has a mall and several grocery stores! Passengers are also greeted with a delightful smell of freshly baked bread when they exit the trains. I fell in love with the Ueno Train Station.

There's a clock in this photo.



Every individual item is preciously wrapped as a gift. Considering how expensive the imported fruits in Japan are they are considered gifts!

After walking around the train/subway station in awe we headed towards Ueno Park to visit the National Museum of Tokyo. The Samurai armor we saw were intricate, intimidating and incredible. Forcing my sister to read the three different Japanese scripts (kanji, katagana, and hiragana), mimicking her like parrots, and teasing her when she didn't know how to pronounce something or how to read it was incredibly fun. The amazing part of the museum was seeing the similarities between early Japanese and Peruvian costumes and pottery. But no amount of educational material we saw or read, nor the amount we poked fun at my sister's expensive, nothing beats eating.

Walking around and taking the sites my husband finds something intriguing in Akihabara, Octopus Balls. It's not what you think, at least you don't exactly know what it is. It's large pieces of octopus dipped in batter and deep fried. But that's not all, it comes with a mayonnaise and a mustard sauce. It doesn't sound appetizing but my husband sure liked it. Not wanting to be outdone by my husband my sister and I take a ball and eat one.

Akihabara is also the electronic shopping center. My sister's eyes grow big looking at all the digital cameras. It's also the obligatory spot for anime fans-my sister. My husband doesn't mind walking through the shops and window shops while my sister looks at comic books and anime films. I'm bored out of my mind and wonder the up and down the many levels of the shops only to have single lonely men stare at me and hide their naughty magazines and cartoons. Ew! I ran down the stairs and hang around outside and attempt to snap a photograph of a little Lolita handing out flyers. She's swarmed by men and photographers and am unable to snap a photo.

Later that evening we return to Asakusa to eat Dozeu Nabe, a small eel like fish simmer in miso and green onions. It's cooked on a small iron pan over burning charcoal. The smoke over comes the three of us and we all beginning coughing catching the attention of all the patrons. As if three gaijins, or foreigners, did not catch their attention already.

Day 2
Today we wonder Asakusa! We visit the Senso-ji Temple. The first gate has two guardians on either side leading into a colorful market decorated with autumn leaves and multicolored flags. The market is filled with shops selling trinkets, clothing, souvenirs and food to out of town tourist. After the second gate we walk into the plaza. On the second gate hang two large sandals that are believed to be Buddha's shoes. Off to the left of the plaza stands a five story pagoda, the second tallest in Japan.

As we were walking out ready to find something to eat we stumbled into a parade of a golden dragon being called to the temple. Soon thereafter we went to eat.

Tempura vegetables and perhaps a nice cold soda or beer from a street vending machine. How about both! Next we hit the streets and see what we can find.

Times Square in New York does not compare to every other corner in Tokyo.

The second clock is in this photograph.

We found and ate the best falafels roaming the streets. No photog of this, we were so hungry after walking all day we just ate away. My husband also tried out Japanese McDonalds and had a tasty shrimp burger.

Day 3
The Tsukiji Fish Market is world's largest operating whole sale fish market. My husband was a kid in a candy store seeing all the freshly caught seafood of every kind. After whetting our appetites we had a great breakfast of sushi.

After breakfast my sister and husband elect me, Miss I never get lost, to navigate our way to our next destination--I don't remember what that destination was because I took us down the wrong street. We didn't realize we took a wrong turn until several large blocks later but no one was mad because we discovered a little jackpot of street food! Chicken yakatori, squid ink ice cream, yes it's black ice cream, fruit, and beer and sake from the vending machine all after sushi!

Next week Mt. Fuji.