oh so tokyo

So Saturday night saw us heading to the big smoke, into the unknown realm of sprout's long lost childhood friend.
Would she be a coco-lulu girl; a goth; a yakuza?.... the possibilities were endless. But in the end she was nothing short of very ordinary (no offence intended!)
The meeting at Shinagawa was a little awkward and very brief as they headed to the tiny aparto in Harajuku and me to Shibuya for a little wander in the rain and a poor night's sleep in a capsule hotel.
Sunday saw "tour guide" mode but it was a packed day that we might not have completed otherwise. The highlight - watching a 22yr old orchestra 'otaku' conducting an (super) orchestra, looking like he was trying to fly as he jumped and flapped his arms.

Also included in our whistle stop tour was the new National Art Center, Roppongi Hills shopping district (yuck), the cherry blossom around the Imperial Palace and a superb oden lunch in an old restaurant in Azabujuban - what looked like a really cool little area to live.

Whilst viewing the blossom, the fact that there were probably more people than flowers was a little off-putting. To add to this, we inadvertently strayed into a festival at Yasukuni shrine - the cause of a whole heap of trouble between Japan and its Asian neighbours.

The evening was spent very uncomfortably having dinner at the family's aparto, with me seemingly on trial, having to prove my credentials. The night wasn't much better, as Monday morning isn't the best time to be at a capsule - alarms going off from 5.30am never make for a good sleep.

The morning saw another highlight though - Tsukiji fish market. In what seemed like another world, men zipped around on motorised carts, cut up huge tuna and sold all manner of strange sea food while women sat in little wooden huts counting up the bills.

After nearly being run-over countless times we made a break back into the real (and underwhelming) world for a sushi breakfast. Yet to have the photos developed but I'm hoping for some good ones....

Akihabara didn't throw up any strange folks to gawp at - maybe we didn't look hard enough.... Harajuku was fun with a Mexican meal nearly hitting the spot.

All in, it was a great weekend - still feel the need to catch up on the sleep lost but hey, I've got plenty of time for that! Roll on Golden Week....