4 Days inTokyo

Probably the nicest people I've met anywhere!!!  The Japanese in Tokyo were so friendly and polite it almost made us feel like jerks.   I don't know what I expected, but Tokyo really blew me away. 

We visited Mount Fuji, the world's biggest fish market, the famous Ginza district and toured neighbouring Yokohama as well. 

The fish market was awesome!!! We caught a subway train there at 5 am and trudged through stalls packed with body parts of every possible sea creature you could imagine, all to watch the high-intensity tuna auction.  Wreaking of fish, we left the auction floor and calmed our nerves with a breakfast of fresh catch sushi, such good sushi it made the whole trip worthwhile!

Sunny and about 5 degrees C, we decided it was a perfect day to visit Mount Fuji!   Took the bus to the wrong town (about 10 min short of Fuji) and attempted to walk to the base of the mountain.  During the trek, we stumbled upon a  university campus of about 400 people.  Sticking out like a couple sore thumbs we decided to walk aroundthe campus, but within 5 min we had about 20 Japanese surrouding us, trying to ask us everything they could think of in what MINIMAL english they knew.  Then they invited us to play some baseball, which we took them up on, before continuing on.

One other thing I should mention about Tokyo is how impressed I was with bicycle usage there.  Everyone was using bikes, from business men to couriers.  In Waterloo, my idea of resourceful bike use was riding out to the LCBO with an empty backpack...we'll the Japanese are WAY ahead of me.  People there carried everything on their bikes...from several hundred pounds of fish carcasses, to a family of 3, all on a regular 2-wheeler.

That's all for now, but the 'real' part of the trip is starting today.  We've landed in Singapore and will be leaving tomorrow for a few weeks in Malaysia.  SOOOO PUMPED!!  I'll be in touch soon.

Tokyo Highlights:

• Super friendly people
• Beer in vending machines
• Best Sushi Ever!!!
• Incredible and MASSIVE Transit System (Over 4 million people pass through Shinjuku station everyday during morning rush-hour!)
  

Lowlights:

• Banging your head on low doorways
• Expensive to party

ps. Since I just picked up a digital camera now, most of the best Tokyo pictures are left on my old film camera.  From now on though, I'll be putting up all the photos.