We're off to see the Emporer.....NOT!

Did I say we were going to see the Imperial Palace? Yeah, I did. Well, once we arrived, we were greated with locked gates and closed signs. It seems the concierge forgot to tell us one little detail. The Imperial Gardens are closed on Fridays. DOH!!

Looking on the bright side, it was a very interesting train ride. The system is so efficient and clean. There were piped in bird chirps, really cool chimes when trains arrived and left, and lots and lots of digital advertisements everywhere. But after we got off at the right station, it was still a long walk to the Imperial Palace. It was a really nice day though with plenty of sunshine and warm weather. Who knew a typhoon was coming?

The swans at the Palace felt a little like we did though. They were battling it out with the carp for food. It was kind of funny. The swan would peck at the carp and kick them with their feet to get at the food.

All we had to do for food was find a nice noodle house. The chef was making the noodles fresh in the front window. We were the only non-Asian people in the restaurant, so we had to point and nod at what we wanted on the menu. The ladies running it were very nice and patient with us though, even though it was obvious they catered to a business clientele and tried to turn tables over quickly. I have to say, this was best tasting, most satisfying meal I had the entire trip.

We wandered around a bit looking for some shops, but couldn't really find any. While walking down a side street, I did find my most prized possession of the trip.

I now have it proudly sitting in my display case alongside my Mt Dew bottle from Beijing. I think I'm starting something here.

We went back to the hotel to catch our bus to the airport. The bathrooms in the lobby had the most amazing view through huge picture windows.

Of course, that meant everyone could see me and my business as well. It didn't seem to bother the cleaning lady who was in the bathroom any.

The trip back was one of the bumpiest I've had. At least the part I was awake for was. After our meal and one movie, I was out like a light and didn't wake up until a little before landing in San Francisco. Winston was glad to see me for about five minutes, then we both wound up taking a nap. After a dinner of take out pizza and a giant Mt Dew, I'm ready to call it a night.

I thorougly enjoyed the little amount of time that I had in Tokyo and would go back again in a heartbeat. Everything was so clean. And everyone was incredibly nice and polite (except those pushing us out of the Fish Market!). I do hope I get the opportunity to go back again some day.

Next trip....back to Disneyland in Nov. YEA!!!!!!

Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

A hotel lobby is an empty, eerie place at 4:00am. But we all made it up in time and hopped in the taxi to the fish market. You have to get there by a certain time if you want to make sure you get in the first group to watch the auction. So here we are, a group of yellow vested tourists from all around the world getting ready to watch hacked up tuna be sold to the highest bidder.

We were lead into a warehouse with dozens of frozen fish carcasses. These were fish that were caught and shipped in overnight. They already had heads and tails cut off.

Slices of the tuna were laid out for the bidders to look at and see which one was of the quality that they wanted.

One person would pour warm water over the tail end of the fish to thaw it a bit, then someone else would come in to saw it open. The bidders then looked inside to see what the fat looked like.

Other people would hack in to where the tail was cut off. Sometimes they'd just keep swinging at it. Others would take part of it and rub it between their fingers for a while.

Once the auction started, it was a chorus of three auctioneers all yelling and chanting. It's a different speed and type than American auctioneers. These guys had a sing song rhythm to it, bouncing up and down, while watching the bidders and their intricate finger signals. The auctions don't last long and they're over before you know it. We were then lead out of the warehouse to leave the market.

Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.

On the way out, there were stacks and stacks of styrofoam cartons that smaller fish were shipped in.

On our way out of the auction, we passed by the actual market house. We didn't know we weren't supposed to go in, so we went in to look at what all of the restaurant owners were coming in to buy for the day.

More fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.

I've now seen seafood that I didn't even know existed. But, as we were wandering through the market house, it was made very plain to us that we were in the way. We would be unceremoniously pushed and asked to move. These people had businesses to run and we weren't helping. Finally, security came and escorted us out, saying we weren't supposed to be able to come in until 9:00am. Oops.

Even as we were making our way from the market to the street, we were almost run over numerous times by carts, cars, trucks, and wheel barrels. Again, we were just tourists mucking up their well ordered routine of selling the daily catch. I didn't dare stop to take any other pictures in fear that I would be run over, stuffed into a shipping box, and sent to some restaurant for dinner!

We walked a bit on the street until we found a cab. Every alley you looked down had a plethora of shops, food stalls, and scooters. At times, it really felt like you were in a small village market rather than a large, metropolitan city.

Now, breakfast has been eaten, showers have been taken, and bags have been packed. We're off to see the Imperial Palace for a couple of hours, then we go to the airport. I wish I had more time here.

Typhoons, dinner cruises, sake, and karaoke.

After waking up to a beautifully sunny morning yesterday, this is what I get today.


Yes, there is a typhoon on the way in to Tokyo. We were going to stay through Sunday, but that is the day the typhoon is supposed to hit. So we changed our flight and will now be leaving on Friday (we got four of the last five seats on the plane!). It's kind of a bummer, but it's better to be safe.

We decided to walk to the office building this morning (since our driver yesterday was horribly lost and we wound up being late). On the way, we have to walk through the Shinagawa train station which is insanely busy. As we were going in, everyone else was coming out to go to work.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it's just a sea of people. LOTS of people. And they are all extremely quiet. All you can hear is their shoes clicking on the floor. It was kind of eerie.

After a half day of meetings, we left for our team building exercise. This consisted of a whirlwind tour of Tokyo. First stop was the temple at Asakusa. Since it was raining so heavily, we were given the actual informational tour on the bus, then were dropped off and told we had 20 minutes to see what we wanted to and to shop at the little vendor shops along the way. I chose to see parts of the temple.

It is said, that if you rub a part on this statue, then rub the same part on yourself, it will heal whatever is wrong with that part. I rubbed my knees so they would stop crackling when I walk up the stairs.

This is a sign on the sidewalk at one of the intersections. I have no idea what it means, but I just thought it was interesting.

Since it was raining so hard, they took us to one of the Japanese department stores to do some more shopping. But be back in the bus in 35 minutes!!

These are some candy bento boxes I thought were interesting.

Then we finally got to our dinner cruise. Although it was pouring down rain and the boat was a little rocky, we had a good time. I even sang karaoke. ME! I guess put enough sake in me and I'll try things I swore I'd never do.

One of my great co-workers.

This was just our appetizer!

More appetizers.

Bert likes appetizers.

White fish tempura which was part of the main course.

Bert had a bit too much sake. I had to cut him off.

So to make the most of our time that is left, we have decided to go see the fish market in the morning. The tuna auction starts at 4:30am. Yes, AM!! We have to get up at 3:30am to get there in time. Are we insane?? Yes, yes we are!

A first day in Tokyo

Well, we made it. The flight wasn't too bad, just really boring. Of course, I didn't know if we were going to get off the ground or not. After being pushed out of the gate, they broke the tow bar on the cart pushing us out. So they had to bring a bunch of people out to inspect the nose gear before we could taxi to the runway. It made me a little nervous as we were landing, but we didn't dive first into asphalt, which is always a good thing.

We arrived to a very overcast and rainy Tokyo. The ground was very green, though. I felt bad because one of my first thoughts as we were flying over an power line tower was "That looks like something Godzilla would attack."

We were all very tired (it was an 11 hour flight, then an hour by train). It's surprisingly easy to get around. All of the signs are in English and people at the train station also spoke English and were very helpful. We looked at the platforms as our train went by and were amazed at how many people were jammed in to the other trains leaving Tokyo. It was also a sea of dark suited businessmen. Hardly any women.

We got to the hotel and decided to get dinner before going to bed. They brough us a sea urchin mousse as an appetizer. It was pretty disgusting.


I had scallops with cabbage as my main course. It was delicious!



This was the view outside my hotel room this morning. Today is supposed to be the only sunny day while we're here.

Lunch at the office was a bento box. I ate it before I found out what the items were in it because I didn't want to be intimidated by my food. I did pretty well and finished everything except my half cooked egg and chicken livers.

After a full day meeting, we had a team building event at the Tokyo Sushi Academy.

We all had to change out of our shoes and put on slippers before we could go in the kitchen. My slippers were a bit small for me, but they were the biggest size they had.

After doing many reptitions on how to make the perfect rice ball, we were treated to watching one of the sushi chefs create the most amazing designs out of his hand rolls.

This is a Christmas Sushi Cake which is made traditionally at Christmas.

Finally, we were able to eat our own creations.

Bert enjoyed the meal with us. Beavers do like fish.

This was the diagram we had to refer to in order to roll our sushi rice balls. I had no idea it was such a precise procedure. It took us about 15-30 seconds to make each ball, but the chef could do it in two seconds.

It was a fun and productive day. Tomorrow is another day of presentations and breakout sessions, then another team event that involves a city tour, visiting a couple temples, shopping, and a dinner cruise. All corporate meetings should be designed like this!!