tokyo is amazing!

it's absolutely IMMENSE. so much to look at everywhere. i'm only here for 2 days, staying with expat friends of my sister's. went to the famous tsukiji fish market this morning which was a trip! endless aisles of so many kinds of fish. almost all the tuna in the world is sold through here. i was thinking of all the times i've had sushi in the U.S., realizing i was seeing the same tuna that ends up on american plates. then we went over to the more retail section & ate sushi, and i forced myself to try all kinds of things i would never have ordered at home! and to my surprise i liked almost all of it...

this afternoon we took bikes around town. went to meiji shrine, the biggest shinto shrine in tokyo. it was beautiful! saw 2 weddings. then walked around harajuku, which is the teen fashion hotspot - such good people watching! i couldn't believe some of the things i saw people wearing. lots of frilly-ness, lots of super short skirts & knee socks, high high high heels, crazy hair. little dogs are really fashionable - there was a whole shop for dog outfits. stopped at a starbucks for a green tea latte.

the architecture here is crazy. and things are sooo clean. and there is almost no crime. this morning we saw people would leave their shopping bags on the sidewalk while they went into restaurants. can you imagine??! no one locks their bikes, they just park them neatly. everything is orderly & precise & there is a lot of bowing. you buy something at a convenient store & the cashier bows to you when you leave!

the people i'm staying with are a german wife & indian husband. they have lots of other expat friends here, so tonight we're going out with a bunch of them for sushi & karaoke. i think there might have to be some sake before we start singing! i'm curious to see what it's like here, at the source...

tomorrow i'm off to bali, yay!

for more tokyo photos, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/hazardkatie/Tokyo