Day 3: Tokyo

Welp we missed the tuna auction. 

By the time we got to the fish market at 5:30am, seats for the auction had all been reserved. But they have a saying here:

"When life hands you adversity, get over it and get AMPED"

(More here: http://youtu.be/11quU3nqkVE)

So, with tears in our eyes but excitement in our hearts, we explored the rest of the bustling market.  

We headed for a tiny sushi bar in the middle of the market, which was widely regarded as the best in the area. Someone would later tell us that the line to be seated was already several hours long by the time we had gotten there (6:30am).  However, we were seated in under 30 minutes by using the ol' American shortcut --being unable to read the Japanese signs about where the line starts.

Edit: Found the sushi place in this CNN article. 

Outside the sushi bar

We took our seats at one of the 12 stools and our personal sushi chef got right to it. We never ordered anything, we just ate whatever the chef put on our trays. The food was exquisite -- might as well have been Chef The Habe (#sadie) behind the bar, slicin' the wheesh. Fortunately it was not. 

After we finished eating, they pushed us out the back exit into an alleyway of the busy market and it was like nothing happened. We headed home for a well deserved nap, then took a short ride to the touted high-tech district of Akibaraha. 

Akibaraha did not meet our expectations of a futuristic city that is packed with modern electronics. Street vendors there were pedaling corded landlines and kids crammed into the Sega stores to blast boges and play the crane game for stuffed Pokemon. If this is the future then keep the sardine sushi coming cause I don't wanna see tomorrow. 

The future. -___-

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 3:

- We think you're not supposed to hand money directly to cashiers. They sometimes look down at a tray when you try to pay and wait for you to drop money there, but other times become upset if you slam money into the tray while they're holding their hand out. This has caused confusion. 

- Re: doctors masks from previous post. We now suspect the masks are a form of dress-up, as we have encountered other dress-up costumes as well such as our waitresses dressing in hee-larious maid costumes. 

I'll have the steak please!