post-tsukiji

day 35
the day was miserably windy and wet, so the camera was buried while electronics shopping in akihabara. to fill in, some pics of our post-tsukiji adventure.



shortly after our fish breakfast, we came across soba street. it looked sooo good, but we just couldn't.






cel phone soba. standing room only at these tables lined up streetside. we're going back, of course.






the imperial palace is a funny place. well, to me at least. it has been described as the eye of the tornado, and i think that's apt. directly in the centre of tokyo, it's an oasis of green where nothing is going on. the palace is not visible to the public, hidden behind walls and moats. the huge grounds are open to the public, but it seems no-one goes there except tourists.






you can walk for hours on the outer grounds, which as vincent noted, have a singularity of purpose. these pine trees go on for acres. a sign told us that you are not allowed to light fires here. also, no camping. and, no walking on the grass. so the first two are really teasers.






i wonder if these mushrooms are allowed to be there?






here, you're allowed to be on the grass. but strangely, no one really wanted to. we saw a salary-man walk by, stop, turn, and stroll out 20 yards. he sat down for 15 seconds, looked at his watch, then got up and walked away.






paradoxically, despite the lack of greenery in tokyo, things grow amazingly quickly here.






all in the name of fashion. this is the prada building.

i was told by a japanese architect that each one of these windows costs more than a bmw. and unfortunately, they're prone to cracking. since cost is no object, a supply of the german made panes is kept locally to keep things looking right.











cafe culture here goes way beyond starbucks (plenty of those too though). i'll post more on that another time.