Another day in Tokyo

I woke up quite early yesterday morning so I decided to go to Tsukiji fish market. It was very busy with people rushing around moving things on their carts. The main centre had thousands of stalls selling all sorts of different types of fish, shellfish and octopuses. I didn't wake up early enough to get to see the tuna auction, I would have had to be at the market by about 4.30am.

After visiting the fish market I went to Ueno Koen. It was very pretty but I bet it is even better once the cherry blossoms were out. There was one or two trees that had started to blossom so I may be lucky when I get to Kyoto. In the park there were quite a few museums. I looked around the Tokyo national museum which showed how Buddhism developed in Japan and how it affected the different pieces of artwork and fashion. For some reason there was a sculpture of Carolyn's head on display, see the picture below. After the museum I had a look around the gardens and the old tea houses. It was such a lovely sunny day as well which made it even better.

In the evening I decided to visit Shibuya. It was very very busy. Just outside the station is the famous crossing that is in movies. There are over 13 million people in Tokyo and most of them seem to be in Shibuya on a Saturday evening.  When the cars stop and the green man lights up the people move into the crossing like a swarm. It is quite extraordinary.

I then had a look around. There were many lights and TV screens, vans go around blasting out the latest Japanese pop music. There are also quite a lot of karaoke bars as well, where you could rent a room and just sing your heart out if you liked. I then went off to find a place to eat. I tried to find a restaurant from the guide book, it seemed a bit of a way off, but I found the street but it wasn't there. So I went back and found a sushi bar. I sat at the bar right in front of the chefs that made the sushi. Luckily the menu was in English and had pictures, this made it easier ordering it.  I tried quite a lot of different fish, including red tuna, flounder, red snapper and eel. They also had a fish tank at the back with a few fish in.  While I was there I guess someone ordered one of them so they got it out of the tank and cut its head off, now that is the freshest you will ever get.

Today I woke up early again so I could catch the train to Nikko.  This was about a 2 and half hour train journey outside Tokyo. Nikko is a very beautiful place with the mountains behind the town.  I went to Nikko national park which had many shrines in.  I started off at Rin-no-ji temple. They had seemed to built another building around it to renovate it which was a shame, but the inside was very ornate and colourful. I was not able to take any pictures while in any of the shrines or temples. 

After I visitedTtosho-gu, Futarasan-jinja and Taiyuin-byo. Again these were temples and I had to take off my shoes to go inside. Afterwards it decided to start to rain and the wind picked up which was a little annoying as I didn't bring my coat, there was also snow on he ground. The train journey back for some reason took 4 hours. It stopped for three quarters of an hour at one station and then didn't go all the way to the station I wanted so I had to change trains. After I went out for some dinner, I had some tempura on rice. For dessert I had this chocolate pastry which was shaped like a fish.

Tomorrow I will leave Tokyo and head off to Kyoto.