Berubes In Japan: "Even the garbage men wear suits"

Yesterday, I noted to Jes that I found it odd how we can never find a garbage can (except where there's a 7-11 and there are 7-11's every other block) yet, it's very clean. This morning on our way to the fish market, we saw two men cleaning up garbage on the side walk; both wearing suits. Then I noticed that pretty much everyone working is wearing a suit. Even the cab drivers. Sharp dressers those Japanese.

Anyway, today was my favourite day. Main reason was the fish market. I knew the fish market was gonna be pretty cool but I don't think I was fully prepared. Pretty sure Jesse was tired of me saying how "this is what I wanted to see!". It just seemed like a perfect picture of this part of Japan and the culture. Fish is so engrained in the culture and to see where it all starts was pretty amazing. The outdoor market was by itself like nothing I had ever seen.... That is until we discovered the wholesale area. Having to maneuver like a ninja not to get run over by speeding carts carrying crates of varying species of what is destined to become food, this is where all the real action took place. I got some pretty amazing photos of old Japanese men working their craft as they had been for the last 30, 40, even 50 years or more. I could've spent the entire day there but I could tell Jes was getting bored and annoyed with my picture makin'.

So, from there Jes was kind enough to let me drag him on an hour plus walk to cross rainbow bridge by foot to Odaiba to visit the Sega Joypolis game centre, Fuji TV Headquarters (which was closed), and Gundam Front (which is basically just a park with a huge Gundam robot statue. Anyway, after about an hour of walking and incessant complaining from Jes about his sore feet we finally got to Rainbow Bridge only to find that the walking path was closed. So backtrack about 15 minutes and hop on the train. Needless to say I was quite disappointed. Jes couldn't have been happier but I was pretty pleased with him for walking all that way to begin with just to please me. He asked me why I love to walk so much and I told him I probably get it from my Grandpa who walks miles and miles every single day. I like to walk.

After a couple of hours at Sega Joypolis (glorified overpriced arcade) we made our way back to Akihabara by 5pm where we decided to unwind before dinner which was a great Sushi meal at a restaurant just outside of our hotel. Our second sushi meal of the day.

Oh and did I mention it rained all day? Ya, well it wasn't too bad since they sell umbrellas pretty much everywhere here. Japanese are huge on their umbrellas. More of a fashion accessory really. Some restaurants have bins to put your umbrella in when you walk in. Some public places have lockable stands designed specifically for umbrellas, and one of the bathrooms I went in had hooks beside the urinals on which to hang your umbrella. Umbrellas..... Side note: Do you think Japanese talk about our most mundane and uninteresting facts of every day life as if they were born out of extra terrestrial influence? Just a thought. Umbrellas.

Anyway, it's early, only 9:00 PM and we're calling a day. We walked over 14km's today and since it's still raining out there's not much for us to do around our hotel except for shop at the huge shopping mall across the street... and we all know that with Jes here, that's just not going to happen.

Tomorrow we'll be spending most of our last day here in Akihabara where Jes plans on spending his gifted yen on some Anime memorabilia. If there's time we may also check out Ikebukuro. Then on Wednesday we head to Mt. Fuji.