still looking for godzilla...

Maeve and I arrived in Tokyo very early Thursday morning not having slept much at all. Uncle Michael met us at the airport, and immediately took us for sushi at the largest fish market in the world. There was a long wait because this restaurant only has about 12 seats, but it was absolutely worth it. We sat down at this sushi bar to watch the masters at work. We ate four kinds of tuna (varying amounts of fat), the best eel ever to exist, shrimp, and more stuff that I can't even remember. I would have remembered better if I hadn't been so busy with the party in my mouth. I also would have remembered better if I were able to take pictures, but I was not able to do so due to the very large and adamant signs that prohibited cameras.

We walked around the market a bit to survey what was available:

I don't know if Tom Robinson had ever been to this particular market. It seems likely that he had given that he  has been just about everywhere. At the very least, he would have known about it. I like to think that he was with me for the sushi and with me in the market. He would have really enjoyed it all.

After the market, we took in a garden. It's right in the middle of the city, so all the backdrops were skyscrapers. It was a really neat contrast. I missed the colors of fall in NC, but Tokyo was kind enough to oblige.

In the garden, there were public bathrooms. Tokyo has the nicest public bathrooms of anywhere I have ever been. The Warmlet is a toilet with a warmed seat. This Holy Grail of toilets is the best thing that I could have ever come across. It makes all other toilets seem ordinary and uncool. It also has two different bidet functions and can make a flushing noise if you need to hide whatever sounds you are making. Basically, I need there to be one everywhere I go. 

After the garden, we took a boat ride down a small river to look at some of the buildings and sights around Tokyo. We then hopped a number of trains to get home considering that we hadn't slept much at all in the past 24 hours and were in the process of crashing. I fell asleep on every train (read subway) we took, which is not usual for me. We took a short nap and then headed back out to go to an English class that Michael teaches. It had three adult students in it with whom we exchanged stories and thoughts. They knew we were coming, so they brought us all sorts of cookies and rice snacks and other goodies. They were absolutely lovely, and I can't think of a better way to spend an evening. Michael made us these seafood, cabbage and other stuff pancakes for dinner. Amazing.

Yesterday, we went to a Shinto shrine in the morning. One must wash one's hands and mouth before approaching the shrine.

There is a large tree around which people hang these wooden plaques with their prayers and hopes written on them. A quick walk around the tree shows plaques with so many different languages from Japanese to Thai to Portuguese to English and many others. Maeve and I added our prayers.

We spent the afternoon walking around in one of the fun shopping areas. There are so many places to spend money in Tokyo and most of them require that you spend a lot of money. It is a very consumer-friendly place. We only shopped with our eyes, but we were tempted. Then we went for a dinner of "shabu shabu" and "sukiyaki." I didn't spell those correctly, but just go with me on this one. The idea is you get a pot of hot broth in which you cook meat and vegetables. It was so delicious!

Today, we went into one of the nicer shopping areas. Tokyo has these massive department stores that are unlike anything I've ever seen. It's an experience just to walk through one. We peeked into massive electronics stores and expensive clothing places. We went to the top of this extremely high building to catch the sunset. It had a perfect view of Mount Fuji and the city night lights if you stayed long enough.

Dinner tonight was so many wonderful things including sake and different forms of chicken, some of which were raw. There were also these delicious ramen noodles that were unlike the instant noodles we call ramen at home. These noodles were delicious and could have been eaten many times in a row. We wandered about the streets for a little while longer before catching the trains home.

I love Tokyo. I would love to just stay here. That would displease my mother.

Reasons I love Tokyo:

1. It's clean.

2. the Warmlet

3. It's orderly.

4. People respect the line.

5. There's so much space.

There are other reason, but I won't bore you with them here. I am so sad to be leaving Asia tomorrow. So many things that I will struggle to process in the coming weeks. As I journey home, keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Give me grace and space to process, and I will most likely be seeing you soon. 

I have a few more hours in Tokyo, so I promise to keep both eyes open in search of Godzilla. There are so many thoughts going through my head.