I traveled with Lyle. Fortunately the airline was kind enough not to charge me for the extra passenger in my carry-on. I helped him write his own web page about his experience during the trip - you'll notice it's mostly about food.

I took a train from Narita to Ueno and then the taxi to Ginza where my hotel was. On the train, I had rice balls and lemonade I bought at the station. A tea drink would have been more genuine, but I am not a big fan of tea. Ginza where I was staying is a great neighborhood, and I didn't get hit too hard by the time difference. Despite getting up early in the morning, I did not visit any fish market (meat packing plants, furniture warehouses, etc..) or other local attractions recommended in tourist guides. At least not on purpose. I did visit Neuhaus chocolates, which is one block south of the main street, on Ginza-itchome.

I also met Yoko, a Tokyoite who kindly and patiently spent her Sunday showing us around!

Asakusa Market

So much for avoiding tourist traps. This is the main place to purchase souvenirs and I obliged by purchasing a few items of the standard fare. I also discovered fried manju, sembei, yoccam and a few other sweets whose name I forget. Since there was a temple, I visited it briefly and I took my fortune (it was bad) and hung it to dry to dispell the bad luck, as is the tradition. There were a lot of tourists and a few western faces. I showed off my erudition boring tendency to lecture by explaining to Yoko that Greeks were the first to carve statues of Buddha, the art form subsequently spreading in Asia.

Akihabara

I wanted to see real Otaku in their natural environment. On sunday, Akihabara is mostly pedestrian and very busy. Lots of fun.

At my urging, Yoko and I took a maid tour of the neighborhood. I can almost say I learned too much but at the same time our guide was definitely an insider who knew about everything and was very nice. Our guide, dressed as a maid, is on the right, Yoko is on the left. You have to picture that at that point there was a large crowd of japanese people behind the camera-man openly staring at us. There were lots of people getting their picture taken on that street, but crowds did not congregate to watch them. Maybe that sign the guide was holding was saying something strange - I should get that sign translated by someone who can read it.

Mitsukoshi

Great department store in the center of Ginza. Their floorplan has two levels completed devoted to food. One for pastries, one for other foodstuff.

Tokyo Tower

I honestly did not see anything of interest in Roppongi, just a shopping mall and tons of office buildings. I was in Roppongi briefly before visiting Tokyo tower and by that point since I had nothing to buy or eat, this just looked like one more commercial center full of people. I think it is famous for the night life but I was there during the day. I quickly took a taxi to Tokyo Tower.

Very nice view once you get to the very top. Apparently Tokyo tower is no longer popular with tourists, so it was actually a pleasant experience and too crowded. I do not know if there was fog (it was a sunny day) or if it was pollution. If it was pollution it felt very different from the smog in Los Angeles.

The following pictures are facing southwest towards Odaiba. I think the bridge connecting Odaiba to the mainland is called the rainbow bridge.

The following pictures are facing southeast towards Shiodome, which seems to be a river estuary (Sumida river?).

This picture is facing east/northeast towards a strange structure. This was the same direction as Chiyoda and the Kasumigaseki, but you could not see anything. The buildings in that direction are smaller and they were completely lost in the fog.

This picture faces northwest. I think the big tower on the right is in Roppongi.

These pictures face respectively west and southwest. I did not recognize anything famous, but it impressed on me that Tokyo is a very large city with tall buildings and large neighborhoods in every direction. By that point I had a feeling that Tokyo was the biggest city I had ever seen, by population at least, given the density.

Unfortunately this leaves out a lot of the fun parts. The high school kids in funny uniforms at the Tokyo tower and the nightlife in Ginza (Yakitori and Karaoke). Maybe next time...