We got picked up from the hotel at 9 by our tour guide. Our first stop was the Imperial Palace, which is the official residence of the Emperor of Japan. The previous emperor was the first ruler in the history of Japan to abdicate his throne, which is now occupied by his son. The palace, in itself, is not visible from the road or any of the lookouts. Moreover, all high rises around the palace also have their windows blackened so they can’t look into the grounds. The palace is opened to the public only twice a year, New Years Day and the Kings Birthday.

We then visited the Tsukiji Outer Market, which is a vast wet market with lots of stall selling food and produce. It was absolutely packed and we just walked around the outer ring of shops and saw some interesting food being prepared. There was a stall making flattened octopus which was served almost like a giant savoury biscuit. There was another stall making candied strawberries, which seemed to be quite a hit with the crowd. We also saw someone hand-sharpening knives.

The highlight of the day was learning to make sushi. We had a sushi chef show give us tips and tricks on how to make rolls and sushi. We made a couple of large rolls and about half a dozen small sushis. These ranged from salmon, tuna, shrimp through to egg. The rice used in the sushi in Japan is not as sweet as what we get in Australia. Moreover, the amount of rice is significantly less (smaller) than the piece of fish on top – which is the other way around back home. Finally we both got certificates to prove we had completed the Sushi Making Course and were now “Sushi Masters”.

The next stop was the Asakusa Sensoji Temple. It is an active place of worship and also has the largest paper lantern in Japan. We went up into the temple but felt a bit guilty taking photos and being “touristy” around locals who were there to pray. So we walked around the grounds and in the gardens adjoining the temple. We also followed the ritual to try and have our fortune revealed. There was also a huge hawkers market with lots of souvenirs and artifacts.

Our final stop was at Tokyo Tower, which is still the tallest tower in the world. It is a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower and we got to go up to 150 mts and see the landscape. What stood out was that Tokyo is incredibly flat and there are buildings as far as the eye can see. However, for a city with over 32M people, there are hardly any sky scrapers and most buildings seem to be no taller than 8-10 stories. Moreover, looking down from the top, it looks quite green as a number of buildings have roof top gardens and parks.

We were back in the hotel at 6 after a very long day of touring. For dinner we headed out to Sheibo, a large departmental store with a number of restaurants on the top floor. We found a small restaurant with only 6 tables that specialised in fried pork fillet. We tried a couple of different items from the menu and every thing was delicious. The curry sauce was a hit and so were the condiments that went with the main dish.